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  1. #76
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    Kex, thanks for that info.

  2. #77
    Phila combat zone JoeE SP9's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    This could really go on forever, but the Bible is much more believeable than the theory of evolution.

    .

    In what way?
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  3. #78
    Musicaholic Forums Moderator ForeverAutumn's Avatar
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    What I'd really like to know is why Noah didn't let the Unicorns onto the arc?
    Last edited by ForeverAutumn; 07-26-2006 at 06:05 PM.

  4. #79
    Musicaholic Forums Moderator ForeverAutumn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JoeE SP9
    If parachutists really had faith they would only have one chute. When I jumped out of airplanes while in the military I always had a backup chute.
    I am reminded of something Bertrand Russell (athiest)once said. He was asked if he died and ended up standing before the throne of God and was asked by God "Why didn't you believe in me?" His response was "I would say to God you should have given better evidence". So, it comes down to faith ie: Belief without proof. I need proof.
    I do not now nor have I ever believed that the Bible is the direct word of God. If it is then "God" is mean spirited capricious and intolerant. The biblical version of creation is simply not believable and the Bible just gets more unbelievable from there. Just consider, Noah and a breeding pair of every animal in a relatively small boat?
    It is my observation that those who benefit the most from any organized religion are the priests ministers and assorted shamen who always live a cushier more comfortable life than their flocks.
    You and I think a lot alike.

    There is no scientific explanation for bees, therefore god must have created them. Thus god exists because bees exist is not a logical argument. Where's the scientific explanation for god?

  5. #80
    Musicaholic Forums Moderator ForeverAutumn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    Joe E, Socrates is not a religion but the point is, if you believe he existed and his writings are his, then why not believe in God or the Bible. We take much of history for granted, history books as true, but we were not there. I'm just trying to make the point that there are more original transcripts of books of the Bible than there are writings of Socrates. And why is it so hard to believe in God, when people believe so much more far fetched things. Faith actually can apply to anything you believe without seeing. When you jump out of a plane you have faith that parachute will open, or else you wouldn't jump...., I hope.

    What people have a problem with when it comes to religion is that it involves changes in life, sacrafice and commitment, most of which make people turn and run. People can't even keep a diet which has to be a permanent change in eating habits. So what do most do, they make their own religion or find the one with the path of least resistance.
    Faith isn't believing that your parachute will open. Opening is what parachutes are built to do. Faith is believing that if your parachute malfunctions and doesn't open, god will save you because it's not your time to die. Or god won't save you because it is your time. If you really have faith in god, why wear a parachute at all?

  6. #81
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    Diatribe

    Quote Originally Posted by noddin0ff
    Our gas dollars fund these regimes. If we’d been paying more attention to where our money was going and tried to make it buy infrastructures, schools, hospitals, roads, information flow…instead of lining the pockets of authoritarian rulers to contain nations aligned with governments we don’t like, you wouldn’t have a reason to fed up. But, whatever, drive on.

    edit: relevant link added
    Those of you who are old enough may recall that before the wells were capped, the North Slope (of Alaska) oil fields were said to contain sufficient oil to fuel North America for 200 years. However, they were capped and we now have rich Arabs, desperate Jews, unending war, expensive gas, and happy oilmen. Dead Lebanese are just icing on the cake. I'm sickened. I ask again: Did Israel make the right decision? Browse the web for some photos of dead Lebanese children before you answer. How can you say "Let God sort them out."?? Have you not considered that God will sort you out, too???

    BTW "Peak Oil" is a scam to kick up oil prices. The Russians proved years ago that oil is being produced all the time, way down there. Americans can not drill as deep, and say oil is not down there. Lies...

    BTW A military invasion takes TIME to plan and organize. Therefore, the recent invasion of Lebanon was decided on BEFORE the two IDF soldiers were captured. Duh. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were also planned prior to 9/11. If military action was really prompted by 9/11, Saudi would have gotten the hit. Lies...

    BTW The US/UK/Zionist invasion of Iran will take place on schedule. The fallout will be dire. There will be more Lies...

    BTW I see that no one has yet questioned the Albert Pike quote. Did anybody read it?

    Laz

    [rant over] Forever Autumn, I don't believe in Unicorns (bad translation in the OT) but YHWH did tell Noah to take examples of EVERY air breather on board the ark. Yes, the ark was very large, and had three levels. To save even more space, young, not mature, animals were taken. The Book of Jasher says more than Genesis on this. From time to time, an animal turns up that was thought to have gone extinct a LONG time ago. Most recently, the Laotian Rock Cat turned up - looks vaguely like an otter. The taxonomical family to which it belongs was thought to have been extinct for 11,000,000 years. This sort of thing happens more often than you may realize. Not too long ago, a species of tree was found in some remote part of Australia which was believed extinct for some tens of millions of years. The antediluvian world was not so long ago. Moist tissue has been found inside petrified T Rex bones, still red, still elastic, still with intact cells. Just don't hold your breath waiting for some big-name science publication to trumpet this news - they have theories to protect...

    Laz
    Last edited by trollgirl; 07-26-2006 at 06:49 PM. Reason: rephrase

  7. #82
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    Quote Originally Posted by ForeverAutumn
    Where's the scientific explanation for god?
    Science (properly understood) is a method, not ultimate truth. It can take you only so far, and science today (sadly) offers us many bad answers. This former athiest has found sufficient ground for belief in YHWH, but science and reason only took me so far. You have to take your hand off the fender of the vehicle which has taken you within view of the Unknown, and then walk toward the void. For me, it all began to unfold when I was still a non-believer, coaxed into going to church, and [you will laugh - I did not] during the Altar Call, a palpable force pushed me towards the aisle.

    Laz

  8. #83
    Big science. Hallelujah. noddin0ff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    I ask again: Did Israel make the right decision? Browse the web for some photos of dead Lebanese children before you answer. How can you say "Let God sort them out."?? Have you not considered that God will sort you out, too???
    Which God? And, why not look at photo's of Israeli dead too?

    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    BTW "Peak Oil" is a scam to kick up oil prices. The Russians proved years ago that oil is being produced all the time, way down there. Americans can not drill as deep, and say oil is not down there. Lies...
    conspiracies
    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    BTW A military invasion takes TIME to plan and organize. Therefore, the recent invasion of Lebanon was decided on BEFORE the two IDF soldiers were captured. Duh. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were also planned prior to 9/11. If military action was really prompted by 9/11, Saudi would have gotten the hit. Lies...
    They would've been idiots not to plan this ahead. And, It's no super duper secret that the neocons had plans for invading Iraq before 9/11, but then I think one has to be daft to connect Iraq to 9/11. They weren't connected. Although the Bush Admin tried very hard to imply a connection. As for Afghanistan, um, Bin Laden who has accepted responsibility for 9/11 was being supported by the Taliban in Afghanistan. So your point is...it was a conspiracy to invade Afghanistan? What for? To get a US monopoly on opium??

    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    BTW The US/UK/Zionist invasion of Iran will take place on schedule. The fallout will be dire. There will be more Lies...
    I think it more likely that the nuclear attack by radical islamic fundamentalists funded by Iran is far far more likely.

    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    From time to time, an animal turns up that was thought to have gone extinct a LONG time ago. Most recently, the Laotian Rock Cat turned up - looks vaguely like an otter. The taxonomical family to which it belongs was thought to have been extinct for 11,000,000 years. This sort of thing happens more often than you may realize. Not too long ago, a species of tree was found in some remote part of Australia which was believed extinct for some tens of millions of years. The antediluvian world was not so long ago. Moist tissue has been found inside petrified T Rex bones, still red, still elastic, still with intact cells. Just don't hold your breath waiting for some big-name science publication to trumpet this news - they have theories to protect...
    Thinking something is extinct is not a theory. Thinking there was a big multi-tier boat that sustained all life on earth for 40 days is an act of faith. Presenting this as a logical argument for creationism is silly.

  9. #84
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    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    Those of you who are old enough may recall that before the wells were capped, the North Slope (of Alaska) oil fields were said to contain sufficient oil to fuel North America for 200 years.
    I'm analyst for pipelines and utilities for our portfolio - all the companies I've visited agree nobody knows how much oil there is for certain, but the estimates I've heard put all of Alaska's oil at somewhere between enough for 5-12 years of fueling the USA. The problem being a sizeable portion is not recoverable. 200 years is a stretch of astrnomical proportions - think about it - that's more oil than the entire world has consumed so far. Ridiculous.


    BTW A military invasion takes TIME to plan and organize. Therefore, the recent invasion of Lebanon was decided on BEFORE the two IDF soldiers were captured. Duh. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were also planned prior to 9/11. If military action was really prompted by 9/11, Saudi would have gotten the hit. Lies...
    You really should take the time to understand how the military works - simple military strategy for an invasion can be thrown together quite quickly - hours even. It's the deployment of trops that takes the longest time - I'm sure the military has contingency, "just in case" plans to attack every country in the world, and probably every city in the USA. That's what they do.
    In Israel's case, they know the area well and have been on standby for war for a few decades now, likely planning, and re-planning such attacks periodically. Same goes for the other countries in the region. These armies are entrusted to be READY for the order. An attack could be launched in minutes - a pre-emptive strike by Israel is a unsubstantiated contention.

    BTW The US/UK/Zionist invasion of Iran will take place on schedule. The fallout will be dire. There will be more Lies...
    Maybe, but as long as they keep threatening the extinction of Israel and removal of Israeli's from the region, they'll get little sympathy.

    Most people know there's 2 sides to every story - but for whatever reason you appear to be only acknowledging America's contributions to escalation. Plenty of blame to go around on all sides.

    I suppose next you'll tell us Kim Jong Il is just a poor, misunderstood, philanthropist who was only planning a 4th of July celebration...until the American conspiracy machine got involved?

  10. #85
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
    Kex, thanks for that info.
    Sure,

    Not sure what that discovery solves, but I got called on it just last week in a discussion about audio cables of all things - the objectivist was telling me science is absolute and LCR suggests all cables sound the same - I used the ol' "bee flying line" and he slapped a freakin' magazine article out of his briefcase on the table.

    If someone figures out how to turn sh*t to champagne I'll have no snappy remarks left in my arsenal...

  11. #86
    Can a crooner get a gig? dean_martin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
    I'm analyst for pipelines and utilities for our portfolio - all the companies I've visited agree nobody knows how much oil there is for certain, but the estimates I've heard put all of Alaska's oil at somewhere between enough for 5-12 years of fueling the USA. The problem being a sizeable portion is not recoverable. 200 years is a stretch of astrnomical proportions - think about it - that's more oil than the entire world has consumed so far. Ridiculous.



    My son just returned from a visit to Central Europe where he had an oppurtunity to go to OPEC headquarters in Vienna. His group heard a speech from an OPEC rep then they were allowed to ask questions. My son asked if OPEC funded research for alternative fuel sources. The rep went into a rant about the US ceasing oil drilling and production in Alaska because the US was going to wait until the world's supply was spent then the US could control the distribution and price of oil. Interesting perspective, eh?

  12. #87
    Class of the clown GMichael's Avatar
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    Whenever I go to the beach with the wifey, I always ask her if she's interested in off shore drilling.
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  13. #88
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    Quote Originally Posted by dean_martin
    My son just returned from a visit to Central Europe where he had an oppurtunity to go to OPEC headquarters in Vienna. His group heard a speech from an OPEC rep then they were allowed to ask questions. My son asked if OPEC funded research for alternative fuel sources. The rep went into a rant about the US ceasing oil drilling and production in Alaska because the US was going to wait until the world's supply was spent then the US could control the distribution and price of oil. Interesting perspective, eh?
    Well, I'm sure it's possible - I won't pretend to know the politics - but I do know Alaska is a super expensive place to get oil from compared to most alternatives, so it's not good business yet. If supplies goes down, demand goes up, or both, suddenly becomes more worthwhile...but relative some other drilling spots, it'd still be a the last option. Canada's sitting back on the second largest oil reserve in the world (and has several others) as well - Russia's got gobs of it too. I think the logic here is to take care of your own if push comes to shove and stocks start to dwindle before we figure out how to make flying cars run on water...

    Hopefully by then (or long before then) we'll get somewhere with other technologies to a point where the caps are off and we flood the market with cheap oil during the "transition" from oil to whatever. This would help insulate any massive shocks to the economy, not to mention really stick it to some of those countries that are completely dependant on oil.

  14. #89
    Can a crooner get a gig? dean_martin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
    Well, I'm sure it's possible - I won't pretend to know the politics - but I do know Alaska is a super expensive place to get oil from compared to most alternatives, so it's not good business yet.
    Hey, Kex - my understanding has always been in line with what you state. I guess I was surprised (probably shouldn't have been) to learn that OPEC's position is different.

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    Quote Originally Posted by noddin0ff
    Which God? And, why not look at photo's of Israeli dead too?
    Um...one man's perp is another man's victim.

    conspiracies Yeah, no kidding.

    As for Afghanistan, um, Bin Laden who has accepted responsibility for 9/11 was being supported by the Taliban in Afghanistan. So your point is...it was a conspiracy to invade Afghanistan? What for? To get a US monopoly on opium?? The Bin Laden family has had business dealings with the Bush family for years. The Khobar Towers were rebuilt by Bin Laden Brothers Construction. Yeah, no kidding. Remember when the men who became the Taliban were heroes in the West? However, they refused to give permission for a vital oil pipeline, and they were quickly demonized. You know the rest.


    I think it more likely that the nuclear attack by radical islamic fundamentalists funded by Iran is far far more likely. We shall see...


    Thinking something is extinct is not a theory. Thinking there was a big multi-tier boat that sustained all life on earth for 40 days is an act of faith. Presenting this as a logical argument for creationism is silly.
    The reappearance of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker demonstrates that "thinking something is extinct" IS a theory. A theory, by definition, can be (and here has) been falsified. What were you trying to say? "Thinking there was a big multi-tier boat that sustained all life [no, only air breathing animals] on earth for 40 days [no, actually a couple of years] is an act of faith." An act of faith now, yes, soon a fact of proven history. The ark has been, and is now, coming to light. Arguments for Creationism have put forward by men and women much more brilliant than your truly.

    Laz

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    Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
    I'm analyst for pipelines and utilities for our portfolio - all the companies I've visited agree nobody knows how much oil there is for certain, but the estimates I've heard put all of Alaska's oil at somewhere between enough for 5-12 years of fueling the USA. The problem being a sizeable portion is not recoverable. 200 years is a stretch of astrnomical proportions - think about it - that's more oil than the entire world has consumed so far. Ridiculous.

    You really should take the time to understand how the military works - simple military strategy for an invasion can be thrown together quite quickly - hours even. It's the deployment of trops that takes the longest time - I'm sure the military has contingency, "just in case" plans to attack every country in the world, and probably every city in the USA. That's what they do.
    In Israel's case, they know the area well and have been on standby for war for a few decades now, likely planning, and re-planning such attacks periodically. Same goes for the other countries in the region. These armies are entrusted to be READY for the order. An attack could be launched in minutes - a pre-emptive strike by Israel is a unsubstantiated contention.

    Maybe, but as long as they keep threatening the extinction of Israel and removal of Israeli's from the region, they'll get little sympathy.

    Most people know there's 2 sides to every story - but for whatever reason you appear to be only acknowledging America's contributions to escalation. Plenty of blame to go around on all sides.

    I suppose next you'll tell us Kim Jong Il is just a poor, misunderstood, philanthropist who was only planning a 4th of July celebration...until the American conspiracy machine got involved?
    Kex, your comments on oil are worth while, and the claim of 200 years may well have been hype or an urban legend. However the proven fact of abiotic oil makes it moot. There's oil aplenty. Your assumption that I don't understand how the military works might merely rest on not having noted that I said "plan and organize". I understand every thing you say in that paragraph. Remember what Brecht said: "When the leaders speak of peace, the mobilization orders have already been written out." "Maybe, but as long as they keep threatening the extinction of Israel and removal of Israeli's from the region, they'll get little sympathy." Yes, but like you say yourself, there are two sides - the Zionist State is now threatening the extinction of its neighbors and the removal of Palestinians from the region. They are running out of sympathy all over the world, and maybe you have noticed. They have cried "Wolf!" too many times. Yes, there's plenty of blame to go around, but we Americans should face our share squarely, and be more humble. BTW, I don't care a fig for Kim Jong Il...

    Laz

  17. #92
    Musicaholic Forums Moderator ForeverAutumn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    The reappearance of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker demonstrates that "thinking something is extinct" IS a theory. A theory, by definition, can be (and here has) been falsified. What were you trying to say? "Thinking there was a big multi-tier boat that sustained all life [no, only air breathing animals] on earth for 40 days [no, actually a couple of years] is an act of faith." An act of faith now, yes, soon a fact of proven history. The ark has been, and is now, coming to light. Arguments for Creationism have put forward by men and women much more brilliant than your truly.

    Laz
    Finding evidence that a boat existed over 2000 years ago, doesn't prove that Noah saved the animals on the word of god. It only proves that a boat existed over 2000 years ago.

  18. #93
    Phila combat zone JoeE SP9's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    The reappearance of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker demonstrates that "thinking something is extinct" IS a theory. A theory, by definition, can be (and here has) been falsified. What were you trying to say? "Thinking there was a big multi-tier boat that sustained all life [no, only air breathing animals] on earth for 40 days [no, actually a couple of years] is an act of faith." An act of faith now, yes, soon a fact of proven history. The ark has been, and is now, coming to light. Arguments for Creationism have put forward by men and women much more brilliant than your truly.

    Laz
    What credible scientist has argued in favor of creationism? Please state name, credentials and papers published for peer review in a reputable journal.
    If creationism is fact then the evidence is totally misleading. That doesn't say much for a supreme being who would plant false or misleading information. I once tried to discuss carbon dating with a "creation" science believer. He didn't believe in carbon dating. I tried to explain, if radioactive decay did not occur as science says then atomic bombs and power wouldn't work.
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  19. #94
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    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    Kex, your comments on oil are worth while, and the claim of 200 years may well have been hype or an urban legend. However the proven fact of abiotic oil makes it moot. There's oil aplenty. Your assumption that I don't understand how the military works might merely rest on not having noted that I said "plan and organize". I understand every thing you say in that paragraph. Remember what Brecht said: "When the leaders speak of peace, the mobilization orders have already been written out."

    Yes, but like you say yourself, there are two sides - the Zionist State is now threatening the extinction of its neighbors and the removal of Palestinians from the region. They are running out of sympathy all over the world, and maybe you have noticed. They have cried "Wolf!" too many times. Yes, there's plenty of blame to go around, but we Americans should face our share squarely, and be more humble. BTW, I don't care a fig for Kim Jong Il...

    Laz
    I don't think anyone disagrees there's plenty of oil. The supply of which is "controlled" by cartels with self-serving interests. And before you blame it on the USA, remember who struck the first blow. Opec's been rigging their supply/production scheme for decades now - when supply is down, its rare that Russia, Venezuela (before joining Opec) or Canada or the US would boost production to compensate - they don't want their supplies depleted sooner because of an artificial, politically motivated decrease in supply. So they all sit on their oil, staring at each other, while the consumer pays a bit more. Oddly enough, Saudi Arabia usually plays the role of peace-maker in these situations.

    Something will replace oil as the primary source of fuel long before all oil stocks are exhausted - I think a lot of companies are betting on this - There's a lot of reseves that are full of oil, but would be absolutely huge, capital intensive, decade or more long projects that would take years of revenue streams to pay for...What's more, the oil that we get out of the ground is getting more and more difficult to refine into more usuable forms. And refining is a massive part of the end-user costs these days - let's not forget that. So the decision to drill often requires over 20 years of accurate foresight. You honestly can't blame the companies - the consumers and governments ask them to find oil, pay for getting it out of the ground, so they want some guarantee that there'll still be reasonable demand for however long it takes to recover costs.

    Is it unthinkable that oil demand in 20 years could be vastly reduced? I dont' think so - as long as there's an ambitious car company or technology firm that wants to take the money that consumers give to gas companies, there'll be work on more efficient engines and alternative energy sources.

    What's all this got to do with Israel and Lebanon? Not much - as the vast majority of those folks don't benefit at all from Oil. This a centuries old religious and territorial war. The fundamental teachings of the religions on both sides create a sense of "Promise" or entitlement to the land. The only solutions I can see is to remove one side, or the other from the region - which both sides would die for to prevent - or to beat this sense of entitlement into submission and let these guys duke it out. Lose/lose situation. But we helped put Israel there, so we have to support them now. How many other countries have we meddled with, and then abandonned to slaughter (Iraq, Cuba, Rwanda, etc).

    I find it ironic that middle east sympathizers point out that the reason people become "terrorists" and attack the US is because they can only put up with so many acts of provocation against them before they snap - US foreign policy or otherwise - and that we should expect strong retaliation from these people because "they can only take so much".
    Israel's peoples' history is full of persecution and attacks, probably as much or moreso than any other people on Earth. It may not be justifiable, but at least I can understand their actions - they're not going to wait for things to escalate to a point where the international community justifies their decision to create war. History has forced them to believe they can't. And that history is in their blood, dating back even long before there was a United States of America.

  20. #95
    Suspended markw's Avatar
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    "the vast majority of those folks don't benefit at all from Oil." - not quite true

    Actually, the terrorist orgsanizations are funded by the oil producing countries. So, while the desert dwelling peoples don't "benefit" from the oil monies, it's not because it's not there. They don't benefit from it because their rulers simply keep most of it for themselves and drop a goodly amount in making life difficult for the rest of the world by funding terrorist organizations. Educating their people is not high on their priorities.

    It's not like these countries have anything else on which to base their GNP.

    Actually, if they used theuir heads they might notice that Israel can rework the barran desert into fertile grounds that not only produce enough food to feed themselves, but actually produce excess food that can be exported. You would think they would want to learn from them. But no, they would rather destroy them

  21. #96
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    Quote Originally Posted by markw
    Actually, the terrorist orgsanizations are funded by the oil producing countries. So, while the desert dwelling peoples don't "benefit" from the oil monies, it's not because it's not there. They don't benefit from it because their rulers simply keep most of it for themselves and drop a goodly amount in making life difficult for the rest of the world by funding terrorist organizations. Educating their people is not high on their priorities.
    That's exactly the point I was making...I think most of the people would prefer to live life without all the bloodshed (giving them the benefit of the doubt here, the Saudi's are UAE are fairly moderate) but the regimes in control of the state owned oil companies tend to rally the civilians to their causes...when you're poor and things aren't going as well - it's easy to believe the big bad US tyrant imperialists are responsible for this mess.
    Quote Originally Posted by markw
    Actually, if they used theuir heads they might notice that Israel can rework the barran desert into fertile grounds that not only produce enough food to feed themselves, but actually produce excess food that can be exported. You would think they would want to learn from them. But no, they would rather destroy them
    Hmmm, maybe. Israel historically was known as a very fertile land, but over thousands of years of intense war, capture, and recapture, the invaders and the losing sides of these wars salted/poisoned the lands to make it hard on the other side. Still, it always had potential, just needed some reconstruction Nothing like destroying the sacred ground.

    As far as I know, most of the other desert lands are pretty much limited. Once oil loses is precious commodity value, these countries will have nothing left. You don't see Syria investing in mass infrastructure and technological development. Well, unless you believe Iran is developing high grade plutonium for "peaceful purposes".

  22. #97
    Big science. Hallelujah. noddin0ff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    Quote Originally Posted by noddin0ff
    Which God? And, why not look at photo's of Israeli dead too?
    Um...one man's perp is another man's victim.
    Personally, I think they're all victims. Just curious why you don't seem to care about Israeli civilians who fall victim to suicide bombers and missles.

    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    The Bin Laden family has had business dealings with the Bush family for years. The Khobar Towers were rebuilt by Bin Laden Brothers Construction. Yeah, no kidding. Remember when the men who became the Taliban were heroes in the West? However, they refused to give permission for a vital oil pipeline, and they were quickly demonized. You know the rest.
    Yeah, I know the rest. That last part especially about flying planes full of civilians into tall buildings full of more civilians. That all came some time after bombing some marines in Lebanon though. etc.


    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    The reappearance of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker demonstrates that "thinking something is extinct" IS a theory. A theory, by definition, can be (and here has) been falsified. What were you trying to say? "Thinking there was a big multi-tier boat that sustained all life [no, only air breathing animals] on earth for 40 days [no, actually a couple of years] is an act of faith." An act of faith now, yes, soon a fact of proven history. The ark has been, and is now, coming to light. Arguments for Creationism have put forward by men and women much more brilliant than your truly.
    I don’t doubt that ancient cultures built a box that they believed God resided in [edit: oops, wrong ark, my mistake]. But that has little to do with bombing civilians or with creationist ramblings.

    You are confusing your use of the word 'theory' with the meaning it has when used in a scientific context. What you are calling a 'theory' would be more accurately referred to as a 'hypothesis', which is a stronger form of conjecture, which is stronger than speculation (which hovers around 'conspiracy theory'). A hypothesis is a notion based on observations, from which one infers statements of potential truth. (we can't find living birds but we do find evidence that they existed not long ago, they likely are extinct now). A hypothesis in a scientific context is a testable conjecture. Testing a hypothesis requires discipline, skepticism, and knowledge of the difference between bias, observation, and belief. In a scientific context the hypothesis, the methods applied to test it, and the conclusions drawn, are reviewed by other knowledgeable experts, most of whom would be happy to prove you wrong.

    A scientific theory has more power. It is a notion that is derived from tested hypothesis, known facts, laws of nature. A scientific theory is well substantiated with repeated observations. It often creates an organized system of accepted knowledge that has power to explain phenomena in a variety of circumstances. Yes a scientific theory (like Gravity or Evolution) could be proved wrong, but because they are assembled from mountains off well tested and well reviewed knowledge it is highly unlikely. Theories are consistent will all known information and generally have predictive power as well. Creationism has none of that (but of course you’re free to believe that it does). Now if you want to argue that finding a missing bird invalidates the whole theory of evolution. I can't help you until you decide to start using your rational brain. Form a hypothesis about how finding animals once believed extinct disproves the theory of evolution and test it.

  23. #98
    Color me gone... Resident Loser's Avatar
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    I see this thread...

    ...is quite popular and generates a great deal of traffic but, can we possibly get someone to correct the spelling of "ISREAL" to Israel...

    Every time it pops up due to the addition of another post, it drives me nuckin' futs!!!

    jimHJJ(...puh-leeeese...)
    Hello, I'm a misanthrope...don't ask me why, just take a good look around.

    "Men would rather believe than know" -Sociobiology: The New Synthesis by Edward O. Wilson

    "The great masses of the people...will more easily fall victims to a great lie than to a small one" -Adolph Hitler

    "We are never deceived, we deceive ourselves" -Goethe

    If you repeat a lie often enough, some will believe it to be the truth...

  24. #99
    Musicaholic Forums Moderator ForeverAutumn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Resident Loser
    ...is quite popular and generates a great deal of traffic but, can we possibly get someone to correct the spelling of "ISREAL" to Israel...

    Every time it pops up due to the addition of another post, it drives me nuckin' futs!!!

    jimHJJ(...puh-leeeese...)
    Ooops! My bad. I'd be happy to correct it if the software used for this forum would allow me to edit the thread title, but it doesn't. So, you'll have to see whether one of our esteemed Mods can do it. Otherwise, it'll be a short trip to the loony bin for you.

  25. #100
    Silence of the spam Site Moderator Geoffcin's Avatar
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    This made me a beliver!

    Quote Originally Posted by trollgirl
    Science (properly understood) is a method, not ultimate truth. It can take you only so far, and science today (sadly) offers us many bad answers. This former athiest has found sufficient ground for belief in YHWH, but science and reason only took me so far. You have to take your hand off the fender of the vehicle which has taken you within view of the Unknown, and then walk toward the void. For me, it all began to unfold when I was still a non-believer, coaxed into going to church, and [you will laugh - I did not] during the Altar Call, a palpable force pushed me towards the aisle.

    Laz
    http://www.southflorida.com/news/chi...0,330718.story
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