They once tried to prohibit booze. They created a very powerful criminal class and had to back down on the booze. Same thing will happen if they try and prohibit behaviour on the net. Media is too expensive and the market is correcting that.
Posts by Qcmbr
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19How would SOPA affect us?
by Aussie Oz ini note a lot of recent news about sopa and both sides of the story.. i hope this will not turn into a debate about it or its legalities or the constitution, it's about the effect of it itself.. mixed in no doubt is a large amount of speculation from both sides as to how it will or will not work and the 'freedoms' under threat.
i beleive the concept of protecting intelectual property etc is fine, as i want the same protection for my artwork etc, but i gather this bill may go to far as it were.... many feel it will adversely effect the internet in as diverse ways as making sites shut down either by force in in self protection such as etsy, flickr, utube, wikipedia and social networking sites.. is it all being blown out of proportion?.
do we as an online community very used to posting, cut n paste, links etc face the risk of simon having to pull the pin?.
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128
Who Do You Say Will Be The Republican Nominee For President & Will Obama Lose?
by minimus inyour opinion please:.
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Qcmbr
Mormonism is no more crazy than basic Christianity. Once you accept talking animals all bets are off and the grown ups have left the building.
Romney is an excellent manager ( his campaign is evidence ) , a financial mastermind ( bank account ) and not doing this for more money ( unlike some of the book writing promoting candidates - I think I remember him turning down pay while Governer ) and is ruthless when it comes to economic issues ( which is critical in the amoral market ). I think wacky religious beliefs aside he will be an economic and organisational whizz in the White House.
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26
does anyone Know why ... Angels are not the means God uses to comunicate with us...
by Tater-T in -
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Qcmbr
I blame law and wind turbines. The latter plays havoc will all forms of winged creatures. Between all the 'bird ' strikes and our compensation culture angels are in hiding. There is a huge lawsuit waiting for damage caused by 'acts of god ' and for terrible advice in such areas as finance ( take no thought for tomorrow ) and medical malpractice ( sexual mutilation ) and that's before we get to all the wars they've started but not helped in.
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126
This Made Me So Thankful I am No Longer A Christian
by cofty ini was following some links researching something to do with my condition when i came across this article by the well known christian author john piper called "don't waste your cancer".. if i had still been a christian when i got my diagnosis i would have been subjected to these sort of pious platitudes.
here are a few gems, read the full article if you wish but not on a full stomach.. .
cancer is not wasted when it is healed by god.
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Qcmbr
Faith can give strength, hope, and comfort to get through our suffering.
Tec - do you think that this validates your belief? How do you square this statement as having any value if you realise that faith in Thor is likely to have eased many a Vikings passage through death? If you believe faith has a positive effect on suffering, you admit that faiths effect is disconnected with truth and you still fail to provide a moral reason for suffering. When you talk about 'your Christ ' you openly admit that you find the biblical description of 'Christ ' to be repulsive to you in certain places and so you are simply making up a modern Christ that meets your sensibilities. A Christian descendent of yours in a few hundred years will look upon our relatively vulgar society , including you, and will conclude that we ( you )never believed in Christ since her Christ is firmly committed to non- violence and therefore couldn't possibly have acquiesced to solving the worlds problems by divinely appointed violence ergo that scriptural account can be ignored and crucifixion was just a barbaric lie. Whitewashing the NT account of Jesus to match your Christ as flower power hippy is intellectual empty. Your Christ is purely a construct and a poor one at that.
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42
Did you ever "feel" the holy spirt "apon you"?
by highdose insome jw's claimed that when they were out door to door that they could feel the angels guiding them and jehovahs spirt apon them.. others claimed this when having prayed felt a sense of calm afterwards.
self induced?
physcological suggestion?.
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Qcmbr
I felt 'it' many times. I still do. I just recognise now that its not the spirit and on the wave of that emotion I no longer try and make highly charged emotional statements.
My experiences normally centered around an emotional incident (such as helping someone I'd taught be baptised - rolls eyes) and I'd describe it as follows:
The hairs on the back of my neck would rise and I'd get a delicious 'taste' senstion in my mouth, my heart rate would soar and I'd feel a rush of adrenaline mixed with a feeling of love and a sense of blissful happiness ( very, very close to the feelings of early romance when the whole world is sunny.) This feeling would be so intense that it would transcend my ability to think about it and so I just had to experience it and it felt like letting go of my mental reins. That feeling of conscious release was my experience of religious ecstacy and I felt compelled to praise the 'source' of that feeling ('god') and I would feel t that moment as though this was heaven must feel like. Bliss.
The reality of course was that I was experiencing a hormonal and chemical rush which does quite overload the brains normal sensory capabilities leading to that sense of otherworldliness. I was enjoying my own chemical high. The reasons why not everyone experiences that feeling of elation, calm, love, transcendent peace, 'spiritual' overload is - to me - relatively simple. The more in control one is of their emotions and mental thoughts (and I mean the real authentic you) the less likely one is to initiate the cascade of chemicals or are more likely to fight it when it starts (keeping oneself in check). When you look at the born again wild conventions / shamanistic tribal dances these people have simply allowed their inhibitions to be relaxed and are externalising the high that is available to most people. Chemically we are different so there are also some people who are not predisposed to these emotional highs anyway.
The trick in all this is who you allow to define your experience. As a missionary I was very effective at getting certain, credulous people to feel the hairs on the back of their neck to rise as I used some pretty appaling mind tricks to get people emotionally charged and just at the right moment, like a good comedian delivering a punchline, I'd lower my voice , look them directly in the eye and ask them - 'do you feel the spirit now, how amazing is that!? - that is what the power of god feels like, that is why he sent us here to your home at this moment - for you.' In other words I'd reframed a purely physical emotional experience (that is undeniably lovely ) and given them 1 - proof of god, 2 - proof of my credentials as a 'servant of god' and 3 - a reason to unquestionably accept every bit of tripe I would subsequently say.
Once the experience is anchored to a divine explanation a testimony is born and just like a drug addict people want more of it and so faith is planted.
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18
Ron Paul from the top rope!
by Diest ini hate his social views, but thats not what will bring this country to its knees.
his new ad really has me thinking.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkfus6gfxpy.
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Qcmbr
What we need are fewer half baked policies and more basic humanist principles. I'd vote for the candidate that was least willing to spout off about a topic when they don't have all the facts (like declaring positions on foreign affairs particularly war whilst not having a seat at the security briefings.) If a Republican candidate (or a Democrat for that matter) could turn round and say -
I don't yet have a plan for reducing the countries deficit(/crime rate/immigration issues/educational standards etc.) but here are some broad principles that I'll weigh all the options against (for example: any option that doesn't involve hard work, sacrifice, honesty, compassion balanced by economic sense, doesn't simply rely upon market forces to allocate resources but nor does it rely upon a command economic structure, balances light touch regulation with harsh penalties for violating the common good, protects the environment or at least replaces where possible but above all doesn't involve an innocent going hungry - then that policy is to be disregarded.) Idealism is very bad, ideas are very good, consensus is desirable but leadership requires action.
Ultimately the idea of taking from someone (taxation) to give to someone else is a great disincentive to work. Taxing poorer people or taxing richer people is the same at a fundamental level. Spending more than you get in taxation however, is a greater ill since it taxes the future (and they haven't even voted yet.)
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so i went to a meetup.com atheist group last night...
by oompa inmy first one...eclectic...and warm...i love nonjugemental and who the hell would not?...some seriously interesting people there....and most were younger than me but that is ok...young people help keep you young.......oompa.
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Qcmbr
Ri - not this atheist . I'm judgmental to all magic believers regardless of creed. You aren't special.
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238
Active JW understands flaws in WTS doctrine but believes in the Bible
by flamegrilled inperhaps this is a common topic for newbies on the site, but i have browsed for a while and not seen this exactly answered.. as an active jw who understands the flaws in wts doctrine, but believes in the bible, how do i identify a form of worship that meets all the criterea:.
1) by this all will know you are my disciples if you have love among yourselves (john 13:35).
sure i know that not all jws do this, and that people from other religions or non-religious people do this also, but as an official doctrine jws will not kill one another in war, and in general there is a genuine effort to exercise "agape" love not widely found in the world at large.. 2) preach the good news.
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Qcmbr
dang can't correct my.. ahem... freudian slip.
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238
Active JW understands flaws in WTS doctrine but believes in the Bible
by flamegrilled inperhaps this is a common topic for newbies on the site, but i have browsed for a while and not seen this exactly answered.. as an active jw who understands the flaws in wts doctrine, but believes in the bible, how do i identify a form of worship that meets all the criterea:.
1) by this all will know you are my disciples if you have love among yourselves (john 13:35).
sure i know that not all jws do this, and that people from other religions or non-religious people do this also, but as an official doctrine jws will not kill one another in war, and in general there is a genuine effort to exercise "agape" love not widely found in the world at large.. 2) preach the good news.
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Qcmbr
My personal made up Christ first, everything else second (except when dealing with reality because Jesus didn't say squit about stuff like driving a car or electrical appliances and you gotta' be on the ball if you don't want to poke an eye our or blend your hand) ... and only if it does not conflict with my Christ and my definition of what other people wrote /mad up about what may or may not be His teachings .
Fixed it for ya.
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18
Terror of God
by StopTheTears inreligion is man's way; but the bible is god's way.. .
are you ready to meet your maker?.
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Qcmbr
The lower half of the picture shows Jesus kneeing the poor guy in the b*ll*cks.