Marked
Bungi Bill
JoinedPosts by Bungi Bill
-
14
Sunday NY Times: How ISIS drives Muslims from Islam.
by Balaamsass2 in230 comments.
sundayreview | op-ed columnist.
how isis drives muslims from islam.
-
-
-
551
Officer Wilson not indicted in killing of Michael Brown
by Simon inafter a thorough investigation and weighing of the evidence the grand jury has decided not to indict the officer.. the reaction so far seems as predicted - people refuse to accept that the result represents justice despite claims that is what they wanted.. there is now violence and vandalism, including gunshots.
let's hope the police contain the troublemakers.. .
-
-
Bungi Bill
The case of the Kurds is something else again.
Over the millenia, they have actually held powerful positions as co-rulers in the various empires.
For example, in Biblical times, the Persian Empire was known more correctly as the Medo-Persian Empire, with the Medes (i.e. allies of the Persians) being the modern day Kurds.
Later, during the time of the Crusades, the Saracen leader, Saladin, was in fact a Kurd.
In many ways, their case could be compared to the United Kingdom, where, at various times either Welshmen (as in David Lloyd George) or Scots (as in the cases of Campbell-Bannerman and Ramsay McDonald) served a sprime ministers of Great Britain.
Bill.
-
551
Officer Wilson not indicted in killing of Michael Brown
by Simon inafter a thorough investigation and weighing of the evidence the grand jury has decided not to indict the officer.. the reaction so far seems as predicted - people refuse to accept that the result represents justice despite claims that is what they wanted.. there is now violence and vandalism, including gunshots.
let's hope the police contain the troublemakers.. .
-
-
Bungi Bill
Why is Japan so successful today? Why is it not languishing in squalor?
Anybody following this thread would be well within their rights to ask "What has Japan got to do with it?"
However, as the question has been raised, I will say that Japan's revival to its present level is attributable in no small way to the attitude and approach of its post-WWII occupying power:
- and in particular, General Douglas McArthur.
Certainly, Japan was humiliated, but it could have been humiliated much, much worse - with the country kept stamped down into the dirt for generations afterwards. However, McArthur very wisely avoided doing that. Instead, the country's economic revival was not only permitted, it was actually promoted by the allied occupation (with Douglas McArthur at its head).
For an excellent discussion about this, Theodore White's "American Caesar" is a very informative read.
Bill.
-
-
-
Bungi Bill
Smiddy,
When you have lived for several decades amongst people whose first language is not English (as I have), you do learn to "cut them a bit of slack", as the saying goes. Granted, too, there are regional variations in the English language.
However........ none of this excuses careless grammar and sloppy spelling on the part of those whose first language is English.
I will forever marvel at the case of my mother (and her two brothers), who only ever received a primary school education, in a one room bush school, and whose total roll (Grades 1 to 7) would hardly have made up one soccer team. Yet, all of them were well read, and could spell perfectly. Now, just about everybody completes Grade 12 - yet few seem to have any idea about correct spelling and grammar, and even the general rate of literacy is not too impressive. (e.g. words bigger than "vegemite" seem to be a problem for many people!)
I would have to agree with your comments about the education system.
Bill
-
-
-
Bungi Bill
Terry,
What you have said is quite correct. Down in this part of the world, major reforms took place in business and industry some 20 to 25 years ago. Furthermore, not all these reforms were necessarily for the better. One observation by many (myself included) is that the skills base has shrunken during that time. (e.g. all the young engineers whom I have had to explain what "crankcase blow-by" is, or that a diesel engine does indeed have a component known as a "con rod"!)
However, one major casualty of these industry reforms (which in certain cases have been more like disclocations) has been the general standard of written language.
Ironically, the likes of my mother (born 1924), who never received a higher than Grade 7 education, could spell perfectly. (It was lookout if ever any of us kids made a spelling mistake - ten laps of the parade ground while holding your rifle above your head!)
Carrying on in the same vein, I try to pay particular attention to correct spelling and grammar, although I do tend at times to get my wucking fords muddled. My apologies for that, these are purely unintentional!
Bill
-
20
Biblical Injunction To 'Spare the Rod' And Spoil the Child' or 10 Reasons Not To Hit Your Child
by frankiespeakin inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltoyjvslwgg.
http://www.naturalchild.org/jan_hunt/tenreasons.html.
in 37 countries 1 around the world, it is illegal for a parent, teacher, or anyone else to spank a child, and 113 countries prohibit corporal punishment in schools.
-
-
Bungi Bill
OK - for a moment ot two, I wasn't sure if you understood the difference between physiology and psychology!
All too often the argument for corporal punishment gets presented as a false dilemma :
- i.e. either children receive a hiding for their misbehaviour, or else they get no discipline whatsoever - as if there are no other possible choices. However, in that treatise quoted by frankiespeakin, nowhereare the authors advocating an "anything goes" approach to the disciplining of children. Rather, they are only cautioning the use of corporal punishment.
Continuing the anecdotal route in this discussion, I know of parents who have never laid a finger on any of their children, yet whose kids are a model of respectful behaviour:
- not only towards their own parents, but towards both other adults and other children as well.
Bill
-
20
Biblical Injunction To 'Spare the Rod' And Spoil the Child' or 10 Reasons Not To Hit Your Child
by frankiespeakin inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltoyjvslwgg.
http://www.naturalchild.org/jan_hunt/tenreasons.html.
in 37 countries 1 around the world, it is illegal for a parent, teacher, or anyone else to spank a child, and 113 countries prohibit corporal punishment in schools.
-
-
Bungi Bill
What is "physiological bable"?
Bill
-
20
Biblical Injunction To 'Spare the Rod' And Spoil the Child' or 10 Reasons Not To Hit Your Child
by frankiespeakin inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltoyjvslwgg.
http://www.naturalchild.org/jan_hunt/tenreasons.html.
in 37 countries 1 around the world, it is illegal for a parent, teacher, or anyone else to spank a child, and 113 countries prohibit corporal punishment in schools.
-
-
Bungi Bill
Some excellent points made there, particularly the one about how nearly all dangerous criminals were beaten as children.
In recent times, some have tried to rationalise the bible's statements about the "rod" and discipline by claiming that it is really referring to a shepherd's "staff" -which is an implement used for guiding sheep, rather than striking them with. However, other verses in the bible book of Proverbs are explicit about "striking" or "beating" with this same "rod", thus making it abundantly clear that corporal punishment is indeed being prescribed there!
Yet other bible verses also indicate that the "rod" and the "staff" are two separate things - a point that has been picked up by a different bible commentators.
Where I come from, a shepherd's staff is known as a "mustering stick", and would normally consist of a length of manuka 5ft-6ft (1.5-1.8m) long. Besides being used as an extension to the shepherd's arm when guiding a group of sheep into a pen or through a gateway, the staff has a variety of other uses, too:
- e.g. as a extension handle for hanging the billy from over an open fire when making a brew of tea at "smoko" time. Or when driven securely into the ground, it can be used for tethering the sheepdogs to overnight in the mustering camp. Also,when climbing up a steep slope, the staff makes a handy trek pole. Likewise, when fording a swift-flowing river, the mustering stick helps keep ones balance.
The shepherd's staff (aka mustering stick) is truly a versatile implement! One thing, however, it has very limited use for is in striking something with -it is a little too long and a lttle too unwieldy for that.
Not so the "rod". It is a shorter device, which these days is most likely to consist of a length of black polythene water pipe, 2ft -3ft (600mm - 900mm) long and used specifically for administering blows to cattle while "persuading" these to advance along a race, or up a ramp into a stock crate.
No amount of rationalisation is going to alter the fact that the bible is indeed recommending the use of corporal punishment in the discipline of children. We are now living in the 21st Century (or at least, we are supposed to be!). It is therefore surely time to pension off guidebooks that were written by primitive civilisations one step removed from desert nomads - and that still reflect the harshness of that environment.
Bill.
-
70
Feeling sad over a wasted life in watchtower
by wannaexit init's been 12 years since i first read ray franz's books and the scales came off my eyes.
by that time i was in my forties.. since 2002 i went back to school and have worked with 3 very professional organizations.
but my biological clock is ticking away and while my peers are looking forward to retirement, i am only beginning.
-
-
Bungi Bill
Not being overtaken by bitterness must be a daily struggle.
Mickey Mouse, you hit the proverbial nail fair on the head!
Bill.
-
70
Feeling sad over a wasted life in watchtower
by wannaexit init's been 12 years since i first read ray franz's books and the scales came off my eyes.
by that time i was in my forties.. since 2002 i went back to school and have worked with 3 very professional organizations.
but my biological clock is ticking away and while my peers are looking forward to retirement, i am only beginning.
-
-
Bungi Bill
After finishing another 12 hour shift and then having to come back to several hours work on the Advanced Diploma course that I am currently doing, I could volubily curse the WTS to hell and back again - just about every night.
However, I figure that the energy required could be put to better use, so I don't!
I resent the JWs anti-education slant as much as anyone, and would have as much reason to do so as anybody else:
- having been prevented from even starting the Engineering Degree course, and then 12 months later being made to abandon the apprenticeship that I had just started (I was later able to pick up a mature age apprenticeship in a related skill, but an still struggling to catch up what I missed out on through not being allowed to attempt the degree course).
However, it need be recognised that all too often with life in general, we by necessity often have to go about things in circumstances that are less than ideal. As others here have noted, it is mainly a case of making the best you can out of an unsatisfactory situation (and trying not to get too consumed by bitterness during the process!)
My observations anyway.
Bill