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POPSMuch like love, hatred is often blind Religious and politically-based hatred: many religious and political wars that have occurred throughout history Terrorist attacks are almost always related to political arguments, religious disagreements or both. Religious and politically motivated atrocities have traditionally been inspired by greed, envy and fear.
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POPSHow to get out of this one??!
That being said, Monday I was speeding to her house from work. I was on a local highway and about 5 minutes from her house when the blue lights blinded my eyes from my rear-view mirror. Damn, I've just been pulled over. The officer walked up to my car, asked how I was doing, then the usual "license and registration, please". Nothing out of the ordinary. I carry a gun for my profession and still had it strapped to my side, so I showed him my work ID and gun permit BEFORE whipping out the gun and saying: "Here's my gun! I'm allowed to carry one!" Phew, won't do that one again. After looking over the permit, he eyeballed my crotch. "I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the car, sir. Keep your hands where I can see them." Either he's a gay cop, or he has a problem with the gun. I was asked to put my hands on the roof of the car. He pulled my 357 out of its holder. "I'm going to hold onto this while I run your license, if you don't mind. You can step back i
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POPSWhy is Gay Marriage a Civil RIghts Issue? This is why refusing communion is not a violation of civil rights - because communion is not a civil contract, it does not confer civil rights or responsibilities, and is therefore not a matter of civil law. I will say it yet again. Your laws that say same-sex couples can't get married are the same laws that say they can't eat shrimp or cut their beards. Which is fine and well for you, but I'm going to continue to enjoy my crab louie salad bare-faced without even humoring the idea that I need to protect, defend, and preserve your "sanctity of brunch". It's about civil rights, plain and simple. All your arguments about "Tradition" and such are nothing more than religious bigotry in flowery dressing. Be a bigot if your god calls you to be. But we will fight you when you try to make your bigotry law. And we will win.
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POPShelen suzman "right and wrong." While she went tirelessly into squatter camps, townships and prisons to see for herself things that were often almost indescribably awful and sad, she never lost her sense of humour. A share of arguments. Ed Hall, Strathpine, Australia "South Africa is the world's rape and murder capital, nearly all victims black. Twenty per cent of South African's have A.I.D.S. , which probably equates to 25% of blacks. S.A. cannot afford suitable drugs. Do-gooders are worse than racists!"
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POPSStupid Republican and Democrat arguments Obama reaching across the isle to discriminate. 7 Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children. 8 Being gay is disgusting. Which is why lesbian porn isn't a 3.5 billion dollar a year industry. 9 Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America. 10 Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children. (Obama is the proof for this one) 11 Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.
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POPSLiving the Off-Label Life "A surgeon whose mind is extra-sharp, a pilot who’s extra alert, a medical researcher whose memory is fine-tuned to make extraordinary connections, is able to work not just to his or her own benefit, but for that of countless numbers of people. “Cognitive enhancement,” they write, “unlike enhancement for sports competitions, could lead to substantive improvements in the world.” I’m not convinced of that. I’m not sure that pushing for your personal best — all the time — is tantamount to truly being the best person you can be. "
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POPSDoes Sex Addiction Have Any Basis in Science?
Some how those who fall victim to an addiction are unable to resist impulses to engage in a specific behaviour..No matter how inconvenient this may become beyond a certain limit.Are they genetic?...But beyond these clear-cut cases, defining addiction from a neurological standpoint becomes more and more difficult. Sure enough, both shooting cocaine and having an orgasm stimulate your mesolimbic system by a sudden release of dopamine, but so does scoring a goal in a soccer game, going on a rollercoaster ride, skiing, diving, dancing, or watching a movie. In fact, it may be argued that every single action that we can describe as pleasurable involves the activation of this system. But if we can potentially become addicted to anything (or anything pleasurable, at least), where exactly do we draw the line between healthy pleasure-seeking and addiction? Moreover, it goes without saying that most people regularly engage in some form of sexual activity (or in drinking or TV-watching, for that m
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POPSKen Starr to defend gay marriage ban.... Good. Not for one minute do I believe that the march towards *gay marriage* or the homosexual agenda will not succeed in American culture. However, I support those who continue to thwart it's advance in the public arena....regardless of it's final outcome.
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POPSIn TV Interview, Cheney Confessed to War Crime "What occurred in the last eight years was an assault on who we are," Turley said. "I think that President-elect Obama's going to have to decide whether he wants power without principle or whether he wants to start with a true change, to say that no matter where an investigation will take us, if there are crimes to be found they will be prosecuted." Personally, I vote for the latter. The neocons came up with a lot of creative legal arguments to excuse torture and we ought to make them test those arguments in a criminal court. I think they'd find that their arguments were BS and that they are, quite literally, criminals. I also think that we ought to make it 100% clear that working in the White House isn't a free pass to commit war crimes. We're a nation of laws, not men, and those who break the law should have to answer to the law -- no matter who they are. That's what you call "justice."
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POPSCondemned to Die: Abortion in Latin America "In this profession, we see all kinds of things, like people using witchcraft, to whatever pills they can get their hands on," said a doctor, who charges about $45 to carry out abortions in women's homes. He spoke on condition that his name not be used, because performing an abortion in Colombia can lead to a prison term of more than four years. "They open themselves up to incredible risks, from losing their reproductive systems or, through complications, their lives," the doctor said. Such arguments have done little to sway an anti-abortion movement that is largely led by influential leaders of the Roman Catholic Church.
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POPSGo World! It's a significant start, and exposes the weakness of arguments in an internantional fashion.
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POPSA Fine Example of Right Wing Intellectualism Typical of many arguments from Christians, this one is particularly telling. I'm wondering where he gets his information from. Visit the original to see the absurd bits I left out. If it wasn't so sad I'd laugh out loud.
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POPSDrop Fee Such a sweet guy this tow truck driver. He was on a "Vulture Run". No one had called him out there. It was entirely up to him. What would he really lose by letting her go? Another case of "I, me, me mine", as John Lennon professed.
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POPS One World Governance? The European Union has already set up a continental government for 27 countries, which could be a model. The EU has a supreme court, a currency, thousands of pages of law, a large civil service and the ability to deploy military force. And an utter unwillingness to do so in any meaningful way, a point not mentioned by Rachman. Deploy its military force, that is. They’re more than happy to deploy the thousands of pages of laws, though. So why do we need to be worried that the dithering, ineffective EU model might become a dominant force? Seems a little contradictory that losers should win, that the meek should inherit the Earth, so to speak. Even in the EU – the heartland of law-based international government – the idea remains unpopular. The EU has suffered a series of humiliating defeats in referendums, when plans for “ever closer union” have been referred to the voters.
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POPSLogical Fallacies and the Art of Debate More: In general, of course, it's a good idea to avoid logical fallacies if at all possible, because a good debater will almost always catch you. It is especially important to avoid obvious logical fallacies like the one above (argumentum ad populum), because they are vulnerable to such powerful (and persuasive) refutations. But sometimes, a logical fallacy -- or at least an unjustified logical leap -- is unavoidable. And there are some types of argument that are listed as logical fallacies in logic textbooks, but that are perfectly acceptable in the context of the rules of debate. The most important guideline for committing such fallacies yourself is to know when you are doing it, and to be prepared to justify yourself later if the opposition tries to call you down for it.
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POPSDoes Religion Make You Nice?Does atheism make you mean? It is at this point that the "We need God to be good" case falls apart. Countries worthy of consideration aren't those like North Korea and China, where religion is savagely repressed, but those in which people freely choose atheism. In his new book, Society Without God, Phil Zuckerman looks at the Danes and the Swedes—probably the most godless people on Earth. They don't go to church or pray in the privacy of their own homes; they don't believe in God or heaven or hell. But, by any reasonable standard, they're nice to one another. They have a famously expansive welfare and health care service. They have a strong commitment to social equality. And—even without belief in a God looming over them—they murder and rape one another significantly less frequently than Americans do.
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POPSArchitects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth The official story of what happened in New York that day doesn't match up with the laws of physics. This site lays out the case, by professionals who study & teach this stuff for a living, that the three towers that collapsed that day were brought down by controlled demolition, given the evidence and the laws of physics. There's quite an extensive bit of evidence laid out. Take a look a for yourself and determine which answer it supports. Occam's Razor says that when there are competing explanations for a phenomenon of equal strength, the one making the fewest assumptions is more likely to be correct. Without assuming anything, look at the evidence and the arguments put forth. See what conclusion you come to. When you remove "Oh, that couldn't be..." from the discussion and just look at the evidence, one theory seems to make more sense.
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POPSAnti-intellectual Presidency book review
One might also question whether public engagement with policy issues was, in truth, significantly higher when presidential speeches were pitched higher. How many ordinary Americans could wax eloquent about the pros and cons of the gold standard in the 1890s, despite the fact that orators of the level of William Jennings Bryan were making the rounds? The electorate that listened to Wilson went on to elect Harding, partly because he was handsome and partly because he made speeches high on pathos. Moreover, his “return to normalcy” mantra used a word many considered not even to exist. Nevertheless, amid the impressionistic plaints so common against the dumbing down of American culture, The Anti-Intellectual Presidency is a useful empirical demonstration of one facet of a larger cultural transformation. In our come- as-you-are America, Dick Cheney’s response to an interviewer’s observation about widespread public opposition to the war in Iraq with “So?” is business as usual. We might di
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POPS28 Ounces Of Marijuana Was Reported Found In 2,700 Yr Old Tomb He was a Caucasian man and researchers believe he was probably a shaman of the Gushi culture, which hails from Turpan in northwestern China. The team of scientists say the alkaline soil acted as a preservative, and the herb was still green, though it retained none of its typical odor. "To our knowledge, these investigations provide the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent," Russo told The Toronto Sun. This ancient batch of marijuana was reported to have a fairly high content of THC, the main ingredient in cannabis. They said however that the sample was too old to determine a precise percentage. This is not the first time historic marijuana has been discovered; other locations in the world include Egypt and other sites, but the pot stashed in this Chinese tomb is the oldest so far that could be thoroughly tested for its properties.
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POPSAnti-Intellectualism, Universities, and the Right To be sure, some subset of the conservative movement does seem to find policy arguments much more alluring when made with a regional accent, and there is no doubt that elite-bashing can be simple-minded and extreme, but the idea that conservative movement as a whole is turning its back on "book-learnin'" is just silly. We revere Churchill and Lincoln just as much as we ever did. The academy — and, consequently, our educated "elite" — do not. The problem is largely cultural, not political. The university system as a whole is culturally dominated by a system of thought that not only rejects conservatism (especially social conservatism), it considers it not even worth discussion. Conservatives can nominate attractive and urbane candidates all they want, but unless their ideas change, they will see increasing problems winning over an "educated" class that has spent year after year hearing only half the story.
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