winsor

This is one of those viral blogosphere things. I'm surprised you would have accepted all of that at face value, unless you were repeating it tongue-in-cheek. Anyhow, Bulgaria had its last execution in 1989, and abolished capital punishment outright in 1998. El Salvador abolished capital punishment in 1983 (the only exception is that it may be imposed only in cases provided by military laws during a state of international war). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_capital_punishment_by_nation Oh, I'm not saying it's fer real - I just like the concept.

I say send him to Bulgaria ----------------------------- Drunk Driving Penalties in other Countries Australia: The names of the drivers are sent to the local newspapers and are printed under the heading "He's Drunk and in Jail". Malaysia: The Driver is jailed and if married, his wife is jailed too. South Africa: A 10 year prison sentence and the equivalent of a $10,000.00 fine Turkey: Drunk drivers are taken 20 miles outside of town by police and are forced to walk back under escort Norway: Three weeks in jail at hard labor, one year loss of license. Second offense within five years, license revoked for life. Finland & Sweden: Automatic jail for one year of hard labor Costa Rica: Police remove plates fron car Russia: License revoked for life England: One year suspension and a $250.00 fine and jail for one year France: Three year loss of license, one year in jail and a $1000.00 fine Poland: Jail, fine and forced to attend political lectures Bulgaria: A second conviction results in execution El Salvador: Your first offense is your last---execution by firing squad

well, I often speak in riddles/obscurity in order to observe various prespectives. it allows me to know you a lil better in this cyber chaos. One's excuse for uttering gibberish does not change the fact that it is gibberish. Your conclusion that you know anything is invalid.

Went to High school in Iran and NEVER had an Anti Jewish teacher or book. There is plenty of Anti Israeli sentiment however. And in Farsi the picture says "how many have been killed because of the excuse of the holocaust" We right sentences different in farsi, but you get what they are saying. That makes sense to me as I think Isreail does get breaks and was created right after W.W.II mainly because of the Holocaust. Are you denying that? The contention is complete nonsense. Read "Bible and Sword" by Barbara Tuchman and get back to me.

Enlighten me.

Why would a plane be at 1,000' over the runway? That would seem to be one of the safest places to be at that altitude. Ever hear of a go-around? An aircraft is likely to get back to pattern altitude (like 1,000 ft) immediately, while maintaining runway heading.

How about shutting down mosques with direct ties to terrorism and taking away guns from criminals. That should prevent violence. Yeah, except "shutting down mosques with direct ties to terrorism" is really Code for "shutting down all mosques, and not allowing any new ones." Exhibit #1- John R's post : "Not to worry, they'll soon have one in New York in which to meet and plan." That's for a mosque that doesn't even exist yet. The clear implication being, that all mosques should be presumed to be meeting-places for terrorists. I have an idea: let's shut down mosques to reduce terrorism, when we shut down churches to reduce paedophelia. If nothing else, tax them all.

PLEASE implement a killfile utility on this site.

The Mitzva is actually in Hebrew, which has meaning at which the English transliteration only hints. Far from knowing the answers, you have yet to comprehend the questions in the first place. I find it so touching that all the Pagan tribes fancy themselves followers of Cousin Jesus - through the hard work of the the Romans who killed him. The Hebrew Scriptures are family lore and tradition, and not meant for universal consumption. You would not understand. The Christian Scriptures are cherry-picked redacted hogwash of dubious origin, and, though appended as the "new," are entirely unrelated to the "old" Hebrew Scriptures. The bottom line is that everything you think you know is wrong. BSBD, Winsor

The error in your argument is the attempt to apply your limitations to the scientific process. Science is the realm of skeptics, not believers. Once you comprend that, you might come up to speed in five or six years of hard work - if you have the ability and apply yourself. BSBD, Winsor

Because you do not have to drive, and thus do not have to have auto insurance. Also, it is not a Federal mandate. The problem with the Government taking charge is simple - and typical. The principle is that there is a product or service that you, personally, could not afford to obtain with your own finances. However, if you give an affordable amount of money to a monumentally inefficient bureaucracy, they will somehow be able to obtain these services for you with the portion of the funds they did not absorb - even though they tend to pay more than market rates. I like health care, and agree that we have a problem. It strikes me that the problem is not as portrayed by those seeking to address it, and that what they have enacted is anything but a solution. Put another way, the people we have elected are clueless, and they are hell-bent on creating more problems than they are tasked with solving in the first place. "Health Care Reform" is a dyed in the wool disaster in the making. BSBD, Winsor

"Religion is a cow. It gives milk, but it also kicks." — Buddha. "Religion is an organization bent on the dissemination of faith, over and above the meaning or truth of the object of that faith." "Beware of those who try to sell you simple answers to complex questions." — Scott Adams. "The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself." — Sir Richard Burton. "We preach peace, forgiveness, tolerance and love. We practice vengeance, persecution, hatred and domination. My personal beliefs are supported and validated by my convictions. Oh, and never forget .... my religion is truth, yours is a lie." — Religion, paraphrased (unknown). "If you're following the news, you know that the major religions differ in their interpretation of the holy books. For example, one way to interpret God's will is that you should love your neighbor. An alternate reading of the holy books might lead you to rig a donkey cart with small mortar rockets and aim it at a hotel full of infidels. In summary, po-tay-to, poh-tah-to. Religions are very flexible." — From Scott Adams' Holiday Thoughts, 2003. "If religious people could be reasoned with there would be no religious people." — Dr House. "It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning." — Bill Waterson, Calvin & Hobbes. "A cult is a religion with no political power." — Tom Wolfe. "A religion is a cult that succeeded." "The difference between a cult and a religion is that the latter is old. Like, stepping into a pile of dogshit makes you curse, but stepping into a pile of dinosaur shit makes you famous. Despite both being crap." — Opportunist. "Cult: a small unpopular religion. Religion: a large popular cult." "A mythology is someone else's religion, different enough from your own for its absurdity to be obvious." "As a true believer, I would gladly give your life for my religion." "Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich." — Napoleon. "Religion is like chemotherapy, it may solve one problem, but it can cause a million more." — John Bledsoe. "The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others." — Bertrand Russell (1872—1970), British philosopher. "Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion." — Robert Burton. "The command, 'Be fruitful and multiply', was promulgated, according to our authorities, when the population of the world consisted of two persons." — Dean William R. Inge. "Religious belief is a mental illness. A contagious one." "Most of the religions have exhibited a perverse talent for taking the wrong side on the most important concepts in the material universe, from the structure of the solar system to the origin of man." "I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting. But it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." — Douglas Adams. "There are ten church members by inheritance for every one by conviction." "Fundamentalism means never having to say 'I'm wrong'." "The mind of the fundamentalist is like the pupil of the eye: the more light you pour on it, the more it will contract." "Wouldn't you say suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem ? I'm a Buddhist, I'd say suicide is a temporary solution to a permanent problem." "Rumour has it that only 3 commandments were offered initially. When it was determined that it was for free, well..." "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." — Winston Churchill. "A fanatic is a man who does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case." — Finley Peter Dunne (1867—1936). "A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something..." "O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet." — St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.). "I saw the best book title today: 'The complete idiots guide to religion'." — neotek. "I was a little disappointed yesterday. Got 'Religion for Dummies' from the library. You know how the '...For Dummies' books usually have the bomb icon for 'Don't do this!' ? This one didn't." — Pep Boy Manny02. "Considering all the evil that exists in the world, the fact that all of religion's condemnation is focused on expressing disapproval of two people loving each other proves just how evil religion is." — Jan deBoer. "Religion /n./ A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the Nature of the Unknowable." — Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, 1911. "Religions are not revealed: they are evolved. If a religion were revealed by God, that religion would be perfect in whole and in part, and would be as perfect at the first moment of its revelation as after ten thousand years of practice. There has never been a religion which fulfills those conditions." — Robert Blatchford, "God and My Neighbor," 1903. "Randomness is scary. I think that's why we are prone to belief in God. Theism is the ultimate conspiracy theory. It's more comforting to think that an invisible man in the sky is watching over everything and has some kind of plan, even if that plan equals a sucky life for you here and now. To think we are all at the mercy of random forces is scary indeed." "The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum." — Havelock Ellis. "In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies." — From 'Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies' a study published in the (peer-reviewed) Journal of Society and Religion, 2008. "When you believe in an imaginary figure that only you can see or hear, it's called a psychological problem. If you believe in an imaginary figure that even you can't see or hear, it's a religion." "Why should I hate someone on the basis of their religion, when I can take a little time to get to know them and hate them for a myriad of real reasons." — Dennis Miller. "History has the relation to truth that theology has to religion — i.e., none to speak of." — Lazarus Long. "A celibate clergy is an especially good idea as it eliminates any genetic tendencies towards fanaticism." — Carl Sagan. "Televangelists: The Pro Wrestlers of religion." — Stephen Wright. "You have not converted a man because you have silenced him." — John, Lord Morley. "Nuke an unborn gay whale for Jesus." — Bumper sticker. "Convicts register their religious affiliation when they're processed into prison. And about 99.5% of the huge U.S.A. prison population consists of inmates who identified themselves as members of religious denominations." — Gene M. Kasmar. "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." — Thomas Paine (1737-1809). "Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be a true system." — Thomas Paine (1737-1809), american writer and activist. "It seems odd that those who scoff at sun worshippers are apt to worship a vacuum." "The best any human can do is to pick a delusion that helps him get through the day. This is why people of different religions can generally live in peace. At some level, we all suspect that other people don't believe their own religion any more than we believe ours." — Scott Adams. "Religious wars are basically people killing each other over who has the better imaginary friend." "Religion is a major weapon in the war against reality." "How can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares 'God wills it thus.' Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet." — Napoleon Bonaparte. "Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich." — Napoleon Bonaparte. "If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god." — Napoleon Bonaparte. "Faith is a euphemism for prejudice and religion is a euphemism for superstition." — Paul Keller, American rationalist. "Faith is believing what you know ain't so." — Mark Twain. "Faith is to the human what sand is to the ostrich." "Science and religion are in full accord but science and faith are in complete discord." "Science and religion are not incompatible, but science and faith are." "Religions fulfill deep-seated psychological needs for people, and if you don't get it from a specific religious doctrine, you'll get it from the kind of films I like to make. A film like The Terminator is consciously meant to give a sense of empowerment to the individual." — James Cameron, American Film, July 1991. "Dianetics is a milestone for man comparable to his discovery of fire and superior to his invention of the wheel and the arch." — L. Ron Hubbard. "When a man has a problem very thoroughly and can't solve it, he really has too few problems. He needs more." — L. Ron Hubbard. "Whenever a poet or preacher, chief or wizard spouts gibberish, the human race spends centuries deciphering the message." — Umberto Eco. "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." — Ben Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758. "The first clergyman was the first rascal who met the first fool." — Voltaire. "As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities." — Voltaire. "Fantastic doctrines (like Christianity or Islam or Marxism) require unanimity of belief. One dissenter casts doubt on the creed of millions. Thus the fear and the hate; thus the torture chamber, the iron stake, the gallows, the labor camp, the psychiatric ward." — Edward Abbey. "In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination." — Mark Twain. "The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance... logic can be happily tossed out the window." — Stephen King. "Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." — Richard P. Feynman (1918-88). "Faith is often the boast of the man who is too lazy to investigate." — F.M. Knowles. "Exploring the universe through meditation is like studying human relationships through masturbation." "Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned." — Anemones. "I count religion but a childish toy, And hold there is no sin but ignorance." — Christopher Marlowe. "Without the use of a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to make a parody of Fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing." — Poe's Law. "A union of government and religion tends to destroy government and degrade religion." — Hugo Black, US Supreme Court. "The last time we mixed religion and government people were burned at the stake." — Bumper sticker. "Freedom is the Distance Between Church and State." "Organized religion is like organized crime; it preys on peoples' weaknesses, generates huge profits for its operators, and is almost impossible to eradicate." "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful." — Seneca the Younger (4BCE-65CE). "Every absurdity has a champion to defend it." "With or without religion, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion." — Steven Weinberg. "The history of saints is mainly the history of insane people." — Benito Mussolini (1883-1944). "A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." — Friedrich Nietzsche. "There is not enough love and goodness in the word for us to be permitted to give any of it away to imaginary things." — Friedrich Nietzsche. "The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." — George Bernard Shaw. "Religion is to rationality as bullshit is to horsepower." "Religions change; beer and wine remain." — Harvey Allen. "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." — Blaise Pascal (1623-1662).

I am reminded of a "recreated" scene wherein about 30 people popped up with rifles around Dealy Plaza - on the Grassy Knoll, out of manholes, trash cans, windows, the Texas Book Depository and so forth - each fired a shot or two, and then immediately disappeared. In the case of the September 11 attacks, Bill Kurtis' observations regarding the JFK assassination are enlightening. Kurtis noted that it was more than most people could handle to accept that a disgruntled misfit with a $16 rifle could so completely change the political and social trajectory of the US, and that there MUST be something major behind the scenes to account for such monumental results. Similarly, it is difficult to accept that a group of malevolent troglodytes could drop $500k on an attack that would have us chasing our tails for a decade (so far), with the expenditure of over $2 Trillion that we did not have in the first place. The simple truth is that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy for his own reasons, and al Qaeda orchestrated the WTC and Pentagon attacks for their own nefarious purposes (mission accomplished on their part...). BSBD, Winsor

It is characteristic of intelligence services in general that the higher up you go, the more compartmentalized are the data to which you have access. During preparation for a high-level presentation, I had access to a variety of dossiers marked "Secret" without having any particular clearance myself - though the Generals in attendance only had access to their own folders. FWIW, I did not peruse the contents, but recall having it pointed out to me that the presentation included a "Beetle Bailey" Sunday comic strip that had been stamped "Secret" when included in the "Secret" folders. The person with the greatest access to "secrets" is often the clerk who distributes them. Witness Chris Boyce et al. The biggest means of security is a culture of integrity. To keep the details of Operation Overlord under wraps, Dwight Eisenhower gave a detailed briefing of the details of the plan to the press, who thereafter were afraid to drink or to talk in their sleep for fear of leaking information that might get Allied troops killed. Most engineers working on secure systems do not discuss the details of their work with unauthorized people - ever. Their spouses and offspring are used to knowing no specifics at all regarding what they do during the work day. If (as is likely) the information this guy leaked results in fatalities for people he outed, he should be granted the treatment Timothy McVeigh received. The consequences for his actions are hardly secret, and he knowingly made his choices. BSBD, Winsor

hogwash. http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot3_2.htm That advice is usually given by those with little practical firearms experience. Birdshot makes a poor defense round. true that an AR round tends to punch holes. Though it's designed to tumble on impact, hole punching can happen. And, the shooter is responsible for ALL damage caused by the rounds leaving the barrel, not just the first target they hit. I am more than aware of the terminal ballistics of the rounds I describe - and not from either published sources or anecdotes. I have personally loaded and/or fired hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, from BBs to 106mm, and have seen results in the ballistic lab, the range and in the field. Admittedly there's more to know, but I do have a fair idea whereof I speak. Evan Marshall made reference to someone who took 6 solid hits with a .44RM and lived to stand trial. That does not make it a wise decision to challenge a Model 29 in competent hands. A 12 gauge 2 3/4" max load of copper plated birdshot to the sternum from across the room has a very high likelihood of achieving a very effective stop. The effective energy of its shot column, which does not have much chance to dissipate across a typical residential room, is twice that of the .44RM. Once through one layer of drywall, the dispersion pattern is very dramatic, and the retained energy of any particular pellet is low enough that the likelihood of traumatic injury or death is nonzero but quite low. There is a massive difference between a "defense round" and a round for defense in a highly populated residential environment. BTW, the whole myth of the 5.56x45 being "designed to tumble on impact" is unadulterated drivel. BSBD, Winsor

I am fascinated by how you seem to distinguish between the prevarication and mendacity originating from the "right" and the "left." Scrutinize though I might, I can't spot any significant difference. Regardless of political persuasion, the scum rises to the top. BSBD, Winsor Volume, Winsor. Volume. If I count the viral emails I get from right wing liars it outnumbers those from the left by at least 10:1 I am a lot more concerned with termites than barking dogs, when all is said and done. Insidious dishonesty is more of a threat than is the in-your-face nonsense that receives all the attention. The wholesale embrace of intellectual mediocrity by the left makes up a lot of ground when maintaining parity with the right. Face it, they both suck out loud. It is like trying to deterimine whether feline or canine feces are more odious - at the end of the day, the net effect of either one winding up in the soup is identical. BSBD, Winsor

As for the assault rifle, most are smaller caliber than hunting rifles, so I'm not surprised. Same with assault pistols, most are small. Now come the Desert Eagle comments. I did say most. An "assault rifle" is a select-fire rifle utilizing a reduced power cartridge. The prototypical assault rifle is the StG44, which used a 7.92x33, as opposed to the standard 7.92x57, cartridge. Similarly, the Kalashnikov family of rifles use the 7.62x39, as opposed to the standard 7.62x54R. Both the German and Soviet offerings use the same caliber with a shorter case, which yields less power. "Assault pistol" is rather a nonsense designation. A full-auto firearm utilizing pistol ammunition is designated a machinepistol or submachine gun. FWIW, the likelihood that the kid used a full-auto version borders on zero. Thus, the designation of "assault rifle" is from a political, rather than technical, definition. In the future, the kid would be advised to stick to a 12 gauge with bird shot to minimize the potential for collateral damage. A 125gr FMJ at 2,300fps has enough overpenetration to dispatch a family member, pet or neighbor after stopping an attacker, and using lethal force so as to endanger innocents is unacceptable. In the meantime, nice shooting, kid. BSBD, Winsor

I am fascinated by how you seem to distinguish between the prevarication and mendacity originating from the "right" and the "left." Scrutinize though I might, I can't spot any significant difference. Regardless of political persuasion, the scum rises to the top. BSBD, Winsor

Here here! The only problem is that we must find someone with out sin to throw the first stone. "Aw, mom!"

Isn't that around the time the USA was pumping Afghanistan full of weapons and training them to kill commies? You know, the very people you are fighting against now, were your allies that your country trained and funded in that same period. What is it you are trying to say? Surely you know about that also and take that into consideration? Actually no... its far more interesting than that. Might I suggest actually reading and learning about what the goals of the Iranian regime actually are and who the US actually supported in the mid 1980's. Oh and please do that at some source other than the usual black helicopter sites mmmkkkk. Take care not to confuse incompetence with conspiracy.

Bush and McCain were still pushing it as recently as 2007. What they learned is that by opposing it now they can attract the racist vote. Okay, arguing that Bush & McCain were in favor merely establishes to a high level of confidence that you would have to be a blithering idiot to support amnesty. Stupidity knows no political persuasion. BSBD, Winsor

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/29/florida.burn.quran.day/index.html Seriously? What the fuck is wrong with some people? These are the same people who burned Beatles albums; perhaps Charlie Manson seemed to vindicate them. However, I am reminded of Sam Kinneson's treatment of the outcome had Charlie been listening to The Monkees instead of the White Album... Perhaps they figure that, since they buy into a tract of Bronze Age superstition hook, line and sinker, an equally improbable compilation of claptrap represents competition and must be eliminated. I find the best inoculation against Blind Faith (though I still like Clapton, Baker, Winwood and Grech) is to read and keep on hand copies of the Tanakh, King James Bible, Koran, Dianetics, Book of Mormon, Mein Kampf, Communist Manifesto and so forth. That anybody takes any of these things at face value is simply an indication that they don't get out much, intellectually speaking. Burning books has been a popular activity throughout history, and has hardly been limited to the Third Reich. Compared to the Catholic Church the folks wearing the Hakenkreuz were rank amateurs. I am concerned by the proliferation of any group of people if any land in which they have achieved a majority has been rendered unliveable (by my standards). About the only thing up with which I have come (and which would never fly) is my policy of "right back at you" (or relvexive) legislation. This is to say that, if people do not renounce the standards of their locale of origin, they are held to them. Much though Muhammadeans like to bitch about being put upon, there are a lot more mosques in Israel than Synagogues in Saudi Arabia, and Islam is given an awful lot more slack in India than Hindus can expect in Pakistan. Thus, to respect the traditions of modern Islam we would have to do a lot more than burn their books. Beheadings, stonings and destruction of anything Islamic would generally be in order. In any event, our two biggest weak points in the US of A at present are "tolerance" and "diversity." Anyone who has ever kept tropical fish will be able to tell you that if you put equal numbers of two particular species in a tank, when you come back the next morning there will only be one species present. If everyone is very well fed there can be an uneasy truce, but when a population gets hungry it reverts to its fundamental, often atavistic, nature. One who expects to go against human nature is possessed of the ultimate luxury - naivete. BSBD, Winsor

Quite the contrary - Amazon's posts make the loathing that is engendered by the moniker "liberal" appear to give more credit to the standpoint than is merited. I cannot fathom why one would gleefully pretend to be so completely repellent, but whatever floats your boat...

Cool.. once they are all amnestied.... they can use all the resources to round up all the conservatives and haul them off to the FEMA Camps for re-education If some right-wing talking head were to concoct a phony left-wing foil for the purposes of making the opposition seem distasteful by comparison, the "Amazon" persona would be a good model. A bit too over-the-top to be completly credible to be sure, but I have the sneaking suspicion that you are serious in your vitriolic stance. If you want to convey the concept that "progressive" = "poison," you have achieved your purpose masterfully. BSBD, Winsor

There are no atheists in foxholes!! I just thought that up. Wrong (on both counts).