Well, they do say that married couples come to resemble each other over the years.
Bruce Baugh annotates James Dobson!
Anyone else here ever read any of the infant gospels? Here, from the Gospel of Thomas, a bit that reminds me of Jerome Bixby's "It's a Good Life":
IV. 1 After that again he went through the village, and a child ran and dashed against his shoulder. And Jesus was provoked and said unto him: Thou shalt not finish thy course (lit. go all thy way). And immediately he fell down and died. But certain when they saw what was done said: Whence was this young child born, for that every word of his is an accomplished work? And the parents of him that was dead came unto Joseph, and blamed him, saying: Thou that hast such a child canst not dwell with us in the village: or do thou teach him to bless and not to curse: for he slayeth our children.
V. 1 And Joseph called the young child apart and admonished him, saying: Wherefore doest thou such things, that these suffer and hate us and persecute us? But Jesus said: I know that these thy words are not thine: nevertheless for thy sake I will hold my peace: but they shall bear their punishment. And straightway they that accused him were smitten with blindness. 2 And they that saw it were sore afraid and perplexed, and said concerning him that every word which he spake whether it were good or bad, was a deed, and became a marvel. And when they (he ?) saw that Jesus had so done, Joseph arose and took hold upon his ear and wrung it sore. 3 And the young child was wroth and said unto him: It sufficeth thee (or them) to seek and not to find, and verily thou hast done unwisely: knowest thou not that I am thine? vex me not.
Dave L: does not "consent" imply "informed consent"?
No, it does not.
Dave L: Conversely, what is this consent worth if it is not informed?
What the hell? It's not consent that has value, it's what happens (or doesn't happen) when you don't consent that's important.
Dave l: Of what value is that consensus if it is not informed?
Dave, try reading Patrick's comment again, paying special attention to this bit:
PNH: And democracy isn't remotely about "rational debate from first principles"; it's a mechanism for achieving governance by the consent of the governed, which ideally yields results that the largest-possible number of those being governed can live with.
Fine, Dave, so don't do that, don't "out-shout, overbully, and vituperate more effectively than the other side". Since Patrick wasn't advocating doing that, you shouldn't have a problem with him.
Robin, did you notice that when Patrick used the phrase "increasingly corroded civic culture" he was talking about the use of intimidation by federal agents as a form of petty harassment? Not just spouting off in blog comments?
That's right, Jack. Each one of those cases is a real "threat" that was "stopped" by the Secret Service just talking to the guy.
Once there was some guy who was gonna detonate the sun with the power of his mind, and I stopped him just by listening to him. You can tell I stopped him, because the sun never detonated.
I'd strike "political" from that request, Patrick.
Jeez, Patrick, if we don't teach the next generation that strong authority is justified in brutalizing dissent, then how ever will we produce a nation strong enough to tolerate the extreme measures that are necessary to implement a Glorious Leader's will?
This might be it:
ABC, Inc.
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4551
Phone number: (818) 460-7477
Anyone have the contact info for Disney/ABC? I'm more inclined to pressure them than the FCC. (Not that we can't do both.)
Lois, I don't actually think that Bush's defense of DeLay means much about Bush as an MBA. I see it more as an example of how the American right still subscribes (perhaps without consciously knowing it) to the Calvinist Doctrine of Election.
Bush's defense of DeLay (or of whichever Republican happens to be facing criticism this week) is to simply assert that he is a good or successful person, that he has the signs of being among the Elect, and that he's therefore favored by God no matter what actual deeds he may have done.
Not that these two ideas (Bush-as-Calvinist and Bush-as-MBA) are utterly disconnected. Part of the point of the Doctrines of Election, Irresistible Grace, etc, is to buttress the notion that the anything successful businessmen do is right, and anything done to reign in the excesses of successful businessmen is wrong.
Sullivan's rehtorical strategy is a byproduct of the right's assault on empiricism. Every time you try to bring a debate into the realm of verifiable fact, they drag out a dozen paid hacks to flood the field with junk statistics, rumors, innuendo, whatever. Soon the typical person's complexity buffer overflows and they give up and respond to whichever side has the most compelling graphics and punchier laugh lines, or caters to their existing prejudices, or just plain hammers them day after day on the local news.
Amy Sullivan drives me nuts. She keeps pulling crap like this -- posting some half-formed rant about how Democrats have an extremist position they need to compromise on abortion or pop culture, but she never clarifies exactly what the position is that she thinks we should take or how it differs from our current one.
I get the feeling that what she actually means is "I'm uncomfortable about [topic] and want Democrats to reassure me that they're doing to do something about it."
Or she's a GOP plant.
CHip, in "The Man Who Sold the Moon", DD Harriman tricks the "Moka-Coka" company into contributing money to his moon launch efforts by bringing up the possibility that their rivals might put an ad in carbon black up on the moon advertising rival soft drink "6+".
Tell you what, Cheem, how about you go to where they're going to be having the memorial service and wait to see if anybody shows up to sing show tunes and hand out pamphlets, and then you can project moral superiority at them. The rest of us will hang out here having thoughtful discussions and making bad puns.
Pope Ringo was made the rock upon which the Church would be built later on, after the Church's first audition with EMI.
Stefan, Wikipedia has a list of popes. I don't expect to be hearing about Pope Cletus II anytime soon.
I fear from hear on it'll just be John Paul, Paul John, John Paul Paul and John, John John John John John John John John John John Baked Beans Eggs and Paul, etc.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 58 |
| 2004 | 129 |
| 2003 | 159 |
| 2002 | 93 |
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