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UConn James

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Posts posted by UConn James

  1. i really don't get how some of you can deny Creationism.

     

    Design demands designer.

    Creation demands creator.

     

    The human body is the most complex design of all creation.

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    You mean like the computers that go through all different permutations to solve problems like grids, string through DNA sequences, etc? Everything is comprised of the interaction b/w atoms/molecules and probabilities in the microcosm that come to pass as the world we experience in the macrocosm. We mistake free will for things that have been imprinted on us by our biology and experiences; Hard Determinism rears its ugly head....

     

    And no, the body human is most definitely not the most complex of "design;" it's a collection of advantageous features for survival. Is the horse, chimpanzee, wolf, blue whale, etc., somehow less complex than our own bodies? You have a very high opinion of homo sapiens.

  2. But the rest of the story, assaulted a store employee, resisted arrest. 

     

    http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news...10128442.htm?1c

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    I'm not saying that kicking someone in the chest gets a free pass. The courts might sort it out. And no I wasn't there, but neither were 290 million other people in this country. Police officers need to be acting more responsible and level-headed than the people they're arresting.

     

    I guess getting tripped up and falling to the ground is resisting arrest when you're a Muslim in a Wal-Mart in S.C. And I guess that's good enough reason to drag her on the ground to the cruiser....

     

    Injuries like those aren't exactly the norm. But I'm sure the police spokesman and IA will say everything was all right. Ask them, they'll tell you.

  3. And how sad it would be, to stare up to the stars at night, that magnificence, and say to oneself, "I'm just a collection of molecules - no more that that". Ugh! 

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    We're not a collection of molecules? I'm a carbon-based life form. What are you? :w00t:

     

    When I look up at the stars I think that very thing, I'm surprisingly comfortable with it. My molecules --- hydrogens, oxygens, nitrogens, etc. --- will all get recycled back to the earth when I go.

  4. Everything scientists have discovered supporting evolution, everything that's still out there waiting to be discovered, and people still point to their 2,000-y.o. book with an oral creation myth.

     

    Science deals with observable information. If Creationism is what you want, teach it on Sundays or enroll your kids in your local madrasa... err... Christian school. Don't use my tax dollars to further your religious cause.

     

    Man, I'm glad I live in a state where the people are actually somewhat sane.

  5. Yeah but don’t you think its cruel and unusually punishment to make someone apologize in FRENCH!! :w00t:

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    Je m'excuse.

     

    <ducks>

     

    (Grandparents were French-Canadian.)

     

    phd1, if this woman was kicking at the officer (there's no link), that's mitigation but not nearly enough to warrant breaking an elderly woman's shoulder. Police are well trained in how to detain / control people in these types of situations (I have two cops in my immediate family, one in AF Security Forces), and it's dubious that this 68-y.o. woman presented some grave threat, unless she was using a weapon, and there's not much of an excuse.

  6. funny, thats what normal people have been saying to gays for years. Should apply to boths sides right?

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    Mmm. Normal people also told blacks for hundreds of years they were 3/5 of a human being, that they were stupid, they needed to be slaves b/c their masters took care of them, that they couldn't vote, that they couldn't marry or have sex with white people.... blah blah blah. :D

  7. Our system of appeals is designed to prevent that from happening.  To my knowledge, no one has been executed in this country since the DP was reinstated that was later proven to be innocent.  If I'm wrong on that, I'd like to see the case.

     

    Also, the fact that an OJ can get away with it is not a sufficent reason to scrap the whole DP system.  That is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  It doesn't make Ted Bundy or Tim McVeigh any less guilty.

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    There have been cases. The gov of Illinois (and IIRC he was, and still is, a pro-death-penalty Republican) stayed all executions pending review b/c of this.

     

    Link

    "How do you prevent another Anthony Porter -- another innocent man or woman from paying the ultimate penalty for a crime he or she did not commit?" Governor Ryan said referring to the former inmate whose execution was stayed by the Illinois Supreme Court after new evidence emerged clearing him of the capital offense. "Today, I cannot answer that question."

     

    And if you think that these are the only ones, maybe you just don't want to accept what has been done in the name of "the people." The quasi-judicial hangings from the magnolia trees of the South weren't all that long ago, relatively. If you think the justice system is fine and dandy, just hope that you never get railroaded. It does happen, even now.

  8. GREENSBORO -- Some Muslim leaders are demanding an apology -- issued in Arabic or French -- from a Greensboro police officer they say broke the shoulder of a 68-year-old Egyptian-American woman.

     

    copyright violation - post link

     

    HOW WOULD AN ENGLISH SPEAKING CHRISTIAN/JEW/HINDU BE TREATED IN A MUSLIM COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST, JACKASS!

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    So the measurable standard of acceptable govt behavior is a Middle-East Islamic theocracy? When do we start beheading women for showing 1/16 sq. in. of skin at their ankles?

     

    Analogy:

    Say you're searching your neighbor's kid's room for a toy that your son said he stole. And you, by accident, break the kid's nose while tossing things around. You don't find the toy; in fact, it was under your son's bed the whole time. And you don't, at the very least, apologize. :D

  9. Since it appears to be the general concensus that the lives of children are precious then I have to wonder why people scream about social programs that are intended to benefit children as being big giveaways for leeches.

     

    Head Start, school lunches, CHIP, etc...all are for the benefit of those innocent children who didn't ask to be born.  Yet those programs are being cut and I don't see too many people upset by it.

     

    I'd like to see people worry more about the day-to-day suffering of children who are born into poverty.  Somehow once they're born, the majority of American's don't give a rat's ass and the ones who do are labeled "tax and spend liberals".

     

    Everyone's entitled to an opinion but it's the woman who has to make the choice and then live with it.  Come the day when more men take responsibility for their half of creating an unwanted child, then perhaps abortions will decline even further (as they have over the past several years).  I still remember the day they hauled in a local right-to-lifer in western NY for vandalizing a clinic and while they were at it arrested the bastard hypocrite for non-payment of back child support.  Give me a break.

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    Just like every dollar spent on prenatal care saves six dollars of treatment after things go horribly wrong. I can barely contain myself when the so-called pro-life advocates apparently care so much about what happens nine months before the birth. But they can't be bothered with advocating BASIC prenatal check-ups. Then after the birth, it's every baby for itself.

     

    Wait, wait, I know what's coming.... 'But the federal budget is $2.5 Trillion!!!!!' Why practice what you preach when doing so costs money?

     

    And yeah, that guy was a real piece of work.

  10. What about the life of someone who has wrongly been given the death penalty, and is later exonerated, or even worse, found to be innocent after execution?

     

    For me it is too much to have that risk on my hands.  There are too many problems with our legal system, namely that it can be had with the best lawyers money can buy while a person of lesser means gets the public defender who falls asleep during trials.

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    Relatives in the CT Judicial Marshals, who are basically paid to sit there and watch trials, have said as much. The line is thin b/w being a trustworthy citizen and being demonized and thrown into prison for something you didn't do.

     

    Granted, many of the people there are sneering scumbags and they pray for them to do something so "street justice" can be administered (they haven't). Especially for a rich kid who bilked a lot of people out of about half a mil, and got off w/ 1 year, out in 6 mos b/c daddy could afford slick lawyers. But all it takes for the rest of us is a bogus charge and not being wealthy enough to get a good defense, and the only thing you get is advice to cop a plea. Justice? Ha.

  11. Yup. I'd be pretty damn worried if the military didn't have those types of contingency 'If X does this, we do this' plans. Doesn't mean it will happen, just a bunch of different scenarios for the sitting president to pick from after getting advice from his JC (On Edit: these initials do not stand for Jesus Christ). Maybe I'll just stay mum as to whether this admin had any of these in Gulf II....

     

    Kim Jong-Il, however, will undoubtedly spin this to his people that the US was GOING to nuke them in '98 but that he somehow averted this catastrophy. They therefore must give their further allegience to him and continue to fund his paranoid military build-up, including his own somewhat-limited nuclear capability, while his people starve. That piece on "60 Minutes" last year was just chilling as to what they're indoctrinating the youth with. We can only hope that his govt implodes of its own weight soon b/c whatever we're doing isn't working.

  12. From the Courant's Sunday commentary page...

     

    For years, Republicans have been appeasing an conservative base with legislation chipping away at Roe vs. Wade and women's health choices. Ironically, these measures have led to an increase in abortions, which neither conservatives nor social moderates want. The United States experienced a 17.4 percent decline in the abortion rate in the 1990s because of education and family planning. But after four years of Republican control, abortion rates increased in Kentuckey by 3.2 percent, in Michigan by 11.3 percent and in Colorado by an overwhelming 111 percent. There are common-sense measures that both sides can embrace to reverse this trend. But social conservatives prefer to mislead and battle for turf rather than accept solutions....

     

    With 73 percent of Republicans and more than 80 percent of Democrats supporting a woman's right to choose (according to an American Viewpoint poll), the reversal of Roe will be the Dred Scott case of our time.

     

    Staunchly adhere to all the principles you want, but they don't make the number of abortions go down.

     

    I agree with the others who've said that while abortion isn't something I personally would endorse. I'm not going to tell other people what to do with their bodies. They must live with the decisions they make.

     

    It's also questionable whether Roe would be overturned even if Bush gets an anti-choice judge on the high court. After being the law for 30+ years, it's a little late in the day to be saying Oh, now you can't do this. The Latin phrase translates to Let the law stand.

  13. If you're mentioning the safety as the best play, I think you have to give your due props to Moorman.

     

    It was his punt to the 1-yard line (if you saw the slo-mo replay, it was a beauty; actually hit the hash at the one!) was the foundation for that play happen.

     

    The D took advantage of the opportunity, in fine style.

  14. Gotta love their tenacity.  I live in a middle to upper middle class area, heavy military, heavy republican. 

     

    Well they have the 2 desks setup one for A-L and one for M-Z.  The M-Z line is moving along great, no backup, in fact people are in and out in 5 minutes or less.  Now in my line it is out the door and halfway down the street at 6 am.  Finally get to vote at 7:15.  Seems the polling director had placed a gentleman volunteer at the desk to check ids, verify you are on the roster and check you off.  He was taking a good minute with each person.  Very, very , very slow.  The polling director asked him to move and someone else would take over.  He got very hostile and animated, refused to move and said that was what he was told to do and he was going to stay there all day.  He even stated right in front of me as I had finally reached the desk, that either the ladies and gentlemen in line can vote at his pace or they can leave and not vote at all, he didn't care.  I know they called for a security officer and they were just coming in as I finally left. 

     

    Well hopefully this was an isolated bit of stupidity, but I am guessing it was organized.

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    Wow, he took a whole minute to verify a person's identity, find their names in a big book, and cross them off? Just like they do in my town? He was doing it in an orderly manner? The nerve of some people!

     

    When they handed out exams in the big lecture halls you could wait until they got to you or you could leave. It's a cost-benefit decision you make.

     

    I think it is kind of simplistic to assume that A-M and M-Z will divise the line into two.... Names are usually proportionally skewed toward the start of the alphabet. But maybe you've got a lot of Smiths and Washingtons down there....

  15. Interesting read, and the part about gerrymandering so we have the most conservatives and most liberals and few centrists, I think is correct. We need to compromise rather than tell each other to go eff ourselves.

     

    As far as the media, I don't think there's some kind of liberal conspiracy. On the editorial pages and some of the Sunday morning talking heads (and Pat Robertson...), there are leanings, but you know what? That's the op-ed page. Ergo, it's not "news." That's like reading the Sunday Funnies and thinking you're going to find String Theory discussion. And it comes from both sides.

     

    What we do have is information gaps b/c media is constrained by space/time limitations. Reporting that 10 soldiers died in Iraq today is not a liberal news story. If you think Nightline is biased b/c it listed the names of all the soldiers killed in combat, maybe you need to re-evaluate where the problem lies. People who object to that just don't like the facts or don't want them aired b/c it's not "good for their cause." We don't cry foul when they read the names of 9/11 victims or at the Vietnam Memorial.... The media reports facts and other people's (often gov't types) opinions on the issues. That's what the quote marks mean. You take it for what it's worth.

     

    Economists take it as a given that people are rational beings and consumers and make their own choices based on their best interests. In this, information is the limiting agent b/c it is costly, time-consuming, etc. Even then, just watching "liberal" media doesn't guarantee anything if you have ANY idea how hard it is to change people's opinions about even the smallest of things; it's the same reason why subliminal advertising doesn't work except to reinforce things you already believe (like some supermarkets actually do use "Don't steal" or "Be honest" in b/w the elevator music). But it makes for a nice cop-out to say that the media has directly created the split.

  16. uh

     

    they lost to GB...

     

    GB

    GB

     

    G. B.

    i don't know.

     

    another problem is, the theory has already been disproved in 1996.

     

    The 1996 elections were on Nov. 5th, 1996. On Nov. 3, the Skins lost to the Buffalo Bills, 38-13. The incumbent Clinton won 2 days later.

     

    Snopes has it wrong with the Redskins-Colts game...that was 9 days before the election

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    The parameters of the prediction are about the last Redskins home game before the election. The game vs. the Bills was in Buffalo. As I'm sure is the case w/ the Colts game. Snopes is pretty good w/ their facts.

     

    Way to get defensive for something intented as a quirky factoid.... ;)

  17. For a guy who just said "its all good, you are entitled to your opinion" you sure don't seem to want to give me that. It was a suggestion. An opinion. I've tried to back off twice and leave it at that.

     

    You should see him on PPP....

     

    I THINK Clements is not very effective this year (low average) I also THINK that he can be a liability on PRs (fumbles). I also THINK that if you the guy you put on PRs is gonna get killed, then it shouldn't be our best CB.  Finally, I THINK McGee could add a spark.

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    It's a difficult situation. You don't really want to put a starter in a situation like we lost Burris on in Indy all those years ago. He was NEVER the same after it. So I understand the point about not wanting Clements out there as a tackling target. Case in point, AP was reporting that Reed went out w/ a knee injury after a PR two minutes in.

     

    Putting McGee on punts would put a backup in (if Vincent were playing) who has shown a LOT on the KR. But it isn't an exact corollary b/c of blocking schemes, etc. Is it right, is it wrong, who knows, but the coaches haven't put him in the spot so you have to accept that they know something we don't. Then again, this is the braintrust that is sticking w/ Drew....

  18. MSNBC

     

    OBL sez: "America, Bush cannot protect you."

     

    In other words, don't vote for him.

     

    In other words, OBL doesn't want Bush re-elected.

     

    I'd love to know when the tape was made.  I still think the guy is dead and he's pulling a "Tupac" releasing new 'old' stuff.  One reference to the Red Sox would clear things up.

     

    Oh well, at least we know who OBL thinks America should NOT vote for.

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    Channel 7 in Boston just reported it said, "America, Bush cannot protect you, Kerry cannot protect you, no one can protect you." And to stop going after them, and they'll stop going after us. Yeah.... Both candidates will continue to bring the fight to AQ, they just have different strategies for doing so. I prefer the one that puts money into actual homeland defense. Bush is pulling a Tom Donahoe addressing one or the other when what you need to win is balance.

     

    Nice editing, Mr. Partisan.

  19. The City of Dallas, which really need the revenue, told Jerry Jones to take a hike.

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    A populace that doesn't buy into the false belief that building new stadiums in a city somehow brings in money. About the only thing it does is make a city's name more recognizable. Renovations like the ones at the Ralph make a lot more sense than peeing away $300M every 20-30 years.

     

    Amazed that Big D would take a stand on this issue; those people do seem to take their football a little too seriously.... :angry:

  20. Yeah, and as a result, they can afford to keep JOBS in Connecticut.  I love when people with no understanding of economics start throwing the fabled "corporate welfare" tag around.  :angry:

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    The Bermuda Backlash

     

    Stanley Works CEO John Trani told investors that reincorporation would save the toolmaker $30 million in taxes, following examples set by Tyco International, Ingersoll-Rand and nearly 20 other companies. More than half of that savings could go to Trani, whose pay is tied to company performance.

     

    I think that speaks for itself. Pretty crappy that negative publicity and the threat of an ineffective lawsuit (you know, like the one against UM, VT and BC for leaving the Big East?) was the only thing that made them reconsider.

     

    How many companies don't get such scrutiny or just do it anyway?

     

    That's a good question why nothing's been done about it. Kerry probably couldn't find a co-sponsor for such a bill in the House.... Remember from civics class that the President has the title of Chief Legislator?

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