Posts by DJS

9

A gun in the hole . . .

by zed is dead in

http://www.wbtv.com/story/25324781/police-teenager?clienttype=generic&mobilecgbypass&utm_content=buffer699b3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer.

eww .

.. zed.

DJS

Those things are dangerous enough without having a loaded revolver hidden inside!!!

26

Who are the Players in the Ukraine crisis

by designs in

interesting shout down occured in eastern ukraine between two factions of the christian orthodox following a deadly shoot out.. ukrainian orhtodox leader patriarch filerat condemned putin and company as being against god's will while pro russia patriarch kirill spoke of the west trying to destroy holy russia.. like the syrian war there are multiple players adn complex agendas.

how do you see the political landscape changing depending on who prevails..

DJS

The paratroopers are a good stategy, IMHO. Obama has been criticized for his tepid responses (we will so remove your visas if you don't stop that). Otherwise, the U.S. and W. Europe are not going to wage any type of military war over the Ukraine. Having said that, there are a lot of things the W. can do. Some of it is already happening by market forces (the removal of capital from Russia since the first of the year due to the Ukraine issue). As Kalk stated, the pipeline is of limited utility to Vlad. Other options are coming soon -within a few years. The Putin administration has already realized they are managing the economic decline of the Russian economy that is currently based on Gas. The Trans-Saharan, Medgaz, Maghreb-Europe, Trans-Mediterranean, and Greenstream pipelines are already planned and are currently being built. The lynchpin to these pipelines, the Trans-Saharan, is planned to be complete in 2018. Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria has just funded $700 more million to the project. The pipelines are engineered to go due N into the Mediterranean and then through Italy to the rest of Europe. Putin is on borrowed time.

In addition: I noted this article a couple of days ago which also reveals U.S. strategy to counter Putin:

"The U.S. has supplied Syrian rebel groups with a small number of advanced American antitank missiles for the first time in a pilot program that could lead to larger flows of sophisticated weaponry, people briefed on the effort said.The new willingness to arm these rebels comes after the failure of U.S.-backed peace talks in January and recent regime gains on the battlefield. It also follows a reorganization of Western-backed fighters aimed at creating a more effective military force and increasing protection for Christian and other religious minorities—something of particular importance to Washington."

The U.S. has been waging a status quo battle in Syria, essentially matching the support Vlad gave Assad while keeping a much desired stalemate. I doubt seriously that the reasons above are as stated; it is more likely that this is another counter to Vlad's actions. As I stated in earlier Syrian/Ukrainian posts, this is not the Cold War. There are a lot of things the West can do to make each step of Vlad's feel like molasses. If Obama and the West are smart, they will make it feel like quick sand.

Putin is shrewd and smart; he is no dummy. He is KGB through and through, but his pragmatic side just may reel him in. We shall see.

219

An important difference between atheists and true believers

by Hortensia in

true believers, whether christian, muslim or whatever, want to convert you, they want you to believe what they do, and they're willing to go to extremes to make it happen.

atheists don't really care what you believe, and don't go out of their way to convert someone.. http://ow.ly/vn1jz an example of what believers in power do to suppress any difference in thought.

http://ow.ly/vraeo an example of why believers want to suppress different ideas (because they can't win in a fair fight, that's why).

DJS

Hortensia,

I think your views are spot on. As I've pointed out many times on this forum, as an athiest I never engage anyone in theistic or belief discussions when away from this site. Ever. This site is different; we come here to engage one another. I doubt if any of the other atheists on this site proactively engage any theists as well. I know lots of atheists and we keep that stuff to ourselves, partially out of respect for theists by primarily because we put that stuff to bed a long time ago and we simply don't waste our precious energy and gray matter on it.

My own rules of engagement on this site: First, I don't enter clearly theist/JW specific discussions. It is rude and disrespectful and a complete waste of time. Theism is irrational. It is only one step higher on the evolutionary scale for sentient beings than feelings. I won't tell any of the other atheists what to do, but it would likely tone down the rhetoric if atheists stayed out of clearly theist discussions (I mean, really, do we atheists have any desire to discuss scripture, the GB, the WT, OKM, Cross pollinating generations or whatever the hell they call it these days?). These things nauseate me and they comprise the vast majority of topics on this site.

Second, theists should show the same respect and restraint. Try not to enter scientific, economic, etc. discussions with nothing more than theist mantras, feelings and beliefs. That annoys the hell out of me. Bring facts or stay out of it. Most theists respect this.

Third, I don't post on topics for which I'm not a SME. That alone would solve a lot of issues on this site if others followed the same.

Finally, each discussion should be considered a debate. The rules of debating are essentially: a. facts; and b. the correct application/interpretation of facts. Facts it seems are vewy scawwy to theists. When the topic isn't theism, which is as stated highly irrational in the first place, facts are the only things that matter. No one, certainly not me, gives a rip about someone's feelings, beliefs, thoughts or one dimensional 'knowledge.' We get a LOT of that on ths site. So many rush to find the first article that supports their reactionary, emotional, irrational and intellectually lazy viewpoint rather than study the subject matter on a 360 degree basis before posting. Too many are intent on winning arguments rather than learning something.

Among other things, I've been an adjunct professor (2 collleges and lots of different subjects). One of the subjects I taught was analytical research and writing. My students knew that any definitive statement that wasn't supported by empirical data on a 360 basis (both supporting and not supporting their view/thesis) was going to be red-lined. Too many on this site think that their cherished feelings or beliefs are worthy of typing crap into the keyboard. They are mistaken. And I 'see" red whenever one of the theists makes definitive statements (typically about atheists) which are completely false and totally un-supported by the data. I guess they 'feel' and 'believe' the crap they sometimes post. It seems anathema to them to actually support defnitive statements with empirical data.

I don't post on many of the scientific discussions. Cofty, Snare and Viviane are much more capable than I.

26

Who are the Players in the Ukraine crisis

by designs in

interesting shout down occured in eastern ukraine between two factions of the christian orthodox following a deadly shoot out.. ukrainian orhtodox leader patriarch filerat condemned putin and company as being against god's will while pro russia patriarch kirill spoke of the west trying to destroy holy russia.. like the syrian war there are multiple players adn complex agendas.

how do you see the political landscape changing depending on who prevails..

DJS

The Ukraine was a disaster waiting for a place to happen, and Putin has 'grabbed' part of it (and may grab more) for a lot of reasons (his own ego, to bolster national pride, politics, money, etc.). But the Ukraine will be a welfare state, as the Crimea will be for years to come. This news item from yesterday shows that things can get very complicated. This is the same reason the Russian oligarchs have established a strong presence in the U.S. and other western nations; they don't trust that Vlad and the rest of the old KGB guard, will not try to re-establish the old ways.

"New statistics from the Central Bank of Russia indicate that almost $51 billion in capital exited the country in the first quarter of 2014. The exodus, says financial website Quartz.com, is largely the result of investor jitters over Russia's intervention in Ukraine and subsequent annexation of Crimea."

219

An important difference between atheists and true believers

by Hortensia in

true believers, whether christian, muslim or whatever, want to convert you, they want you to believe what they do, and they're willing to go to extremes to make it happen.

atheists don't really care what you believe, and don't go out of their way to convert someone.. http://ow.ly/vn1jz an example of what believers in power do to suppress any difference in thought.

http://ow.ly/vraeo an example of why believers want to suppress different ideas (because they can't win in a fair fight, that's why).

DJS

Outside of this forum I never discuss religion, politics or social matters with anyone. First, it would accomplish nothing and second I conserve my energy for more useful pursuits, such as chasing girls.

This forum is uniquely designed for questioning, challenging and calling out stupidity, wherever it may reside. Praise the lord (I'm atheist so that doesn't really mean much).

266

There Was No First Human

by cofty in

this excellent 4 minute video will help to clear up a few common misunderstandings regarding evolution.. ....

DJS

Viviane and Kate,

As I have previously mentioned, you two are among the few posters whose comments I read and look forward to. Viv, the only thing I would add to this is that Kate is newly out of the Borg and is carrying a lot of recent pain and stress from it. That she is willingly participating in non-theist discussions, without hijacking them or simply repeating theist nonsense mantras; it would seem to me that Kate is searching and trying to understand her own paths, both former and future in addition to helping others. I'm preparing her official atheist certiticate (platinum jewel encrusted frame with a pink border). Now you two get along or I will so come in here.

I'm glad you are both here.

16

7 Things Remarkably Happy People Do Often

by Oubliette in

jw
friends

i came across this article today and really appreciated it's positive message; and so i wanted to share a few choice excerpts that i thought were particularly relevant for this group:.

7 things remarkably happy people do often1.

make good friends - make real friends.

DJS

Nice post. Thanks. I'll bet if I saw the rest of the list one thing would be on it: Counting one's blessings each day or often and placing other things in the proper perspective.

23

Scientific basis for the belief that prayer helps!

by exWTslave in

dear reader,millions of americans believe prayer works.

yet the mainstream media tends to avoid the subject altogether.but our mind health report team at newsmax health wanted answers to questions like these:can modern science explain prayer?does praying strengthen your brain and prevent mental decline?what benefits, if any, does prayer offer you physically, mentally, and emotionally?to this end, the team went out to the scientific and medical community to learn the potential benefits of prayer and what they found both surprised and excited all of us here at the mind health report.the results were so startling, in fact, we created a free video presentation to share with you exactly what we discovered.when you watch this free video, youll discover how prayer actually changes four distinct areas of your brain.

in fact, youll see exactly how prayer or other spiritual practices increase activity in the areas of your brain that are most helpful to you, and diminish activity in areas that are less helpful or even harmful.youll also see:how a specific amount of prayer time per day can help prevent memory loss, mental decline, and even dementia or alzheimers .

DJS

Nice OP. Interestingly, the fact that prayer 'works' is one of the first things that caused me to question the Borg and then the existence of god. It may have been the first thing (it has been a while). There was good science several decades ago suggesting that prayer had a positive health impact. However, and this is the point that caused me to begin my Pink Floyd sojoun (another brick in the wall of my theism being removed): prayer 'works' regardless of which god one is praying to, including whether the 'god' is a rock, a pole or an imaginary creature in the heavens. All that matters is the one praying 'believed' or placed their psychological selves in a calmer more restful state.

Buddhist chants do the same thing only a lot better.

266

There Was No First Human

by cofty in

this excellent 4 minute video will help to clear up a few common misunderstandings regarding evolution.. ....

DJS

Snare,

Excellent! I'm proud of you. I'm a couple of years behind and it will be a PhD rather than an MD, but you are an inspiration. Now go to sleep!

266

There Was No First Human

by cofty in

this excellent 4 minute video will help to clear up a few common misunderstandings regarding evolution.. ....

DJS

Cofty it's got to be 2 or 3 a.m. where you are. What are you doing awake? And Snare, aren't you 'over there' too? Go to sleep guys!!!! This conversation can wait.