Shotgun

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Everything posted by Shotgun

  1. Shotgun
    All your base are belong to us.
  2. Shotgun
    I don't know about "is not," but I tend to agree with "should not." In the case I was on, during the penalty phase, they brought the victim's family out to testify about what a great person the victim was. And they made it pretty clear that the victim's family wanted the death penalty. So the family was definitely given the chance to influence the jury and have a say in what the punishment should be. I was somewhat annoyed by this aspect of the trial. For one thing, the defendant did not even know the person who he killed, so I didn't see how it made any difference if the victim was an upstanding citizen or a homeless alcoholic. The crime that the defendant had committed did not change either way. But I also didn't find it appropriate for the family to be trying to sway us towards the death penalty; we weren't there for the purpose of getting revenge for the family. And actually, the story you posted is a pretty good example of the death penalty not being used for revenge.
  3. Shotgun
    All of the above. But I was young enough that Jaws kept me from going in the water the first time we went to the beach after seeing it.
  4. Shotgun
    .....and then someone else jumps in and criticizes everyone else for being biased. Perfect, thanks for completing the pathology. I am only here for the purpose of observing how you psychos operate.
  5. Shotgun
    Actually, even though guilt may have been clearly established in this case, this story brings up another argument against the death penalty: when the victims or victims' families are against it. In this case, the murderer was a part of the family, the surviving victims had forgiven him, and they did not want him executed. So now we've further traumatized the victims by killing yet another member of their family. Of course, that could be argued the other way as well: cases where the victims or victims' families want the death penalty, but can't have it. Though for some reason I am slightly more swayed by the first argument than the second. (Err on the side of life?) And also I'm not really sure if the victims should have any say in what the punishment should be anyway.
  6. Shotgun
    I've heard agnositcs and atheists say, "Oh my God!"
  7. Shotgun
    You bring up an obvious and simple solution to this gay marriage problem. If a same-sex couple wants to get married, one of them can just have a sex change. Then they can have a good old traditional marriage between one man and one woman. Everyone's happy; problem solved.
  8. Shotgun
    Some kids might see money under the pillow as evidence of the tooth fairy's existence, while others might wonder where the money really came from. And still others might know where the money came from. Some people see our very existence as evidence of God (or some sort of divine creator), while others are not satisfied with that explanation.
  9. Shotgun
    Dude, you went on a little rant (directed at me) about some perceived condemnation that never actually happened, and I politely called you on it. If you want to keep talking nonsense about it and trying to insult me, that's fine, but I'm not interested. Sheesh...
  10. Shotgun
    You're making a pretty good go at it in this thread.
  11. Shotgun
    Umm, yeah.... I think my logic just doesn't allow for your logic (in this particular dialogue anyway). But that's OK; I'll let it go.
  12. Shotgun
    Sure. Post #142 comes to mind. Specifically: "Anyhow, there seem to be many in the recovery industry that would rather have someone die in addiction as a bad example than to get sober without religion." Interesting that you see that as condemning the entire AA program. Seems a bit of a stretch to me. (And why did you reply to me with your rant when I'm not even the one who wrote that?) And yet you didn't have any problem with Ron condemning all skydivers (by your logic anyway): "It seems that most skydivers would rather see a brother die in addiction than get sober through Christianity."
  13. Shotgun
    Suppose the person said Inbred Jed likes the Los Angeles Lakers, and this wasn't true, but these anti-Lakers people beat the shit out of Jed over it. Should the person be sued for slander for saying that Jed likes the Lakers?
  14. Shotgun
    And what if your wife divorced you over it? Would you then sue the other woman?
  15. Shotgun
    Just curious, lawrocket: If you were in a similar situation - some stalker woman decides she wants your wife to leave you, so she starts rumors about you being gay, even gets your wife's mother to tell her that you're gay. Would you sue the woman for slander?
  16. Shotgun
    Who's condemning an entire program? All those bad-mouthing AA and similar programs. Can you point me to what was said that condemned the entire AA program?
  17. Shotgun
    Who's condemning an entire program?
  18. Shotgun
    I think with the domination of 12-step programs in the "recovery" industry, this is still more prevalent than the opposite. I'm pretty fascinated with the origins/continuation of 12-step programs, particularly AA. And I think they have had some brilliant ideas as far as keeping an organization together with a (mostly) singular purpose. But I recall being pretty put off by reading Mr Wilson's "Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions," the chapter on Tradition Three. It's a little anecdote about this horrible atheist who showed up in the program and how everyone wished he would just go off and get drunk. Of course, finally he did, but then he found God and came back, and everyone lived happily ever after. And I think there is still a lot of this attitude in "recovery," which does seem to back up your statement. Though I think the industry is slowly starting to open up to more options for people.
  19. Shotgun
    The smug and condescending tone that often comes across in these threads. I see it pretty equally among the believers and non-believers, though I think perhaps the non-believers slightly outnumber the believers who post in here. (Which makes sense - if I had a religion that held deep meaning for me, I personally wouldn't want to argue about it on an Internet forum with a bunch of yahoos who mostly wanted to crap on it.)
  20. Shotgun
    Key words being "in here." If I used this forum as a guide, I wouldn't have a very high opinion of either atheists or Christians. Hell, I'd probably think most people were assholes. But fortunately I realize that this sort of forum often brings out the worst (or at least not the best) in people.
  21. Shotgun
  22. Shotgun
    Belief is a real thing. And how do you know what would make them better off?
  23. Shotgun
    I wish there was more info about the actual lawsuit. My first thought was... how old are these people??? I can't imagine, as an adult, being in a serious relationship with someone and breaking up with him over some rumor about him being gay. At least not without there already being some serious problems and trust issues in the relationship.
  24. Shotgun
    Such as? Let's see.... The "intelligent design" thing (nothing exists that hasn't been created; therefore there must be a creator, or something like that)... The "I should have been dead" thing (I was miraculously saved and there is no possible explanation other than that God must have saved me, or something like that).... The "God spoke to me" thing.... Generally something along those lines. As I said, not logical/convincing reasons (IMHO), but "reasons" nonetheless.
  25. Shotgun
    I've heard a lot of different reasons from Christians about why they believe. None which were logical and/or convincing to me, but apparently logical/convincing to the believer. And, while many Christians (or rather, people in general) are condescending about their beliefs, I've met plenty of Christians who are not condescending about it at all, who are willing to accept and respect the fact that other people have different beliefs.