goaliejerry

Exactly, I mean it's actually quite amazing that the goal, and probable outcome of this looming war, is the complete dimantling and reassembly of an ENTIRE STATE. (REF: Afganistan) The power that the United States is capable of is astounding, and the fact that I can't refute that the people we depose are completely immoral, well I think it's just unprecedented in history, and maybe it's not a bad thing. I mean, 15 billion dollars for Africa AIDS relief, I must admit, I was taken aback. And here, America, unmatched in economic power AND stability, despite economic downturn, which affects the whole world, we are still COMPLETELY capable of prosecuting two wars at once; North Korea doesn't dare. All they want is power and food. Here's the thing; as I see it, America has an unprecendented amount of wealth. And while I can see where sqaubiling over tax code and domestic policy only goes towards shaping the ideal policy, fact remains, after whatever internal revenue debates finalize, our country controls a huge amount of worth. Plain and simple. And yes, as our president pointed out, 1/3 of adults in some South African countries have AIDS, I mean think, you go to a bar, looking to meet someone, you have to consider that 1/3 of all girls you meet could have AIDS. If that isn't wrong and terrible I don't know what is, and our government, supposing congress bites on his aid package, might actually be able to stem the tide. And while we quible about income tax and other forms of governmental revenue, we deny that despite high taxes, despite the fact that we enjoy, as a county, according to numbers, a higher standard of living as compared to most other counties on earth or in recorded history, that we might, through our own power, change the world for the better...well just think of the power our country weilds. I mean certainly paying taxes and giving money to anyone but me is counterintuitive to my own self preservation, but the fact remains that my concern over a dollar might buy someone food for a day. I can't live off of $1 a day. Let me tell you. I would die, if thrown into the streets, with no means of income, depraved and without hope, and I live, in my apartment, viewing the world through a window, and only judging what happens in the world through the American based and English speaking sources I referance. We hear stories and we sympathize but we can't truly empathize until we've been there. And I hope I never go there, and I hope that through my and my country's efforts and capabilitys we work against anyone going there. And concern over dollars and whats mine is mine is trivial when compared to the value of another human beings life.

Considering that an impending conflict with Iraq is unavoidable considering the ideaology that drives American rightousness, shall we or shall we not, as Americans, when the moment comes, actually declare a war on Iraq? Keep in mind that in essense an invasion of Iraq is an invasion with a total victory objective; wouldn't it be prudent for our congress to declare, for the world and ourselves, that a state of war will exist between our two counties? America has not declared an actual war since WWII. (correct me if I am wrong) Yet here, in this current instance with Iraq, it almost seems appropriate, as the purpose of our endeavour would be the elimination of a hostile, potentially dangerous and idealogically opposed state. How does this instance differ from the elimination of the axis powers in WWII such that the simple moral clarity of old that laid clear the need to eliminate evil in the world cannot be utilized here? What would be the pros/cons to an actual declaration, and ultimately which do you think would be the better course of action? [ 02-02-2003, 03:16 PM: Message edited by: GoalieJerry ]

Reporting in, YAR!

The ICV-Melissa X is named after a very special and influencial girl I used to know. The number denotes reincarnations (i.e. X signifies the tenth ship in the series, yes, I died ten times before becoming consistent )

Well all I can say is God bless those fallen astronauts and God see their familys through the difficult days ahead. Those fine men and women, despite the ever present danger involved in space flight, took to space to advance mankinds knowledge of the universe and ourselves, and without people such as those new frontiers would never be reached. It's a tragedy and a sad day for America, for NASA, as well as the world. Life is precious so today, tell the ones you love that you still do love them as always.

Dragon Lady did you ever read my response in that drugs post? I wrote a big fat post about decartes (who by the way I do NOT entirely subscribe to) just for you, and I was just wondering if you read it. 'Twould be a shame if I was the only one who read it, but I still think the mind and body are seperate entitys, however they are nessecarily co-mingled as well.

"Let's agree to disagree, aggreeably" Very admirable. On a seperate note: I'm going to make my one obligatory criticism of this whole process and then be gone, at least until I decide to chime in again I would love to enter this debate as I have strong feelings, as all of you do as well. I (try to) stay away from these debates however, because most people aren't here to debate, rather their here to prove the superiority of thier views. That entails shutting down whomever opposes you, usually through what degrades into personal attacks. It also (usually) entails ignoring valid points which oppose the stance being advanced. If these discussions could stay civilized; if the people involved would admit to THEMSELVES that NO ONE is completely right EVER, EVER (we are not devine); if the people involved can prevent emotion from cluttering their logic, then these discussions might actually work towards something productive, as opposed to now just being an expression of opinion, devoid of value. As it is, these are just shouting matches, and I get pissed off and then there goes all credibility. For in truth, if our stance were entirely secure, there'd never be any reason to get upset, would there? If one is entirely certain of their position then opposition can be cooly dealt with. Anger shows frustration, and frustration results when our position has holes poked in it where we thought there were none. We get mad because we think we're being shown up and then feel obligated to retort, after all an attack on something I say is an attack on me, isn't it? No it's an attack on falicy, adherance to which is despicable. IMHO, one who is able to look back and say "you know what? What I said here, the view I presented here, is either a)wrong outright or b)needs modification," one who says and lives by that is worthy of high regard and respect, again IMHO. I wish that humans were not entirely resistant to the idea that something THEY think might actually be completely wrong. (I have no particular example in mind, this resistance just seems to be common-place in all people, including me) Oh and I wish the Drugs post hadn't been deleted, because then I wouldn't have felt the need to write this again

Why so angry?

Pressed for time, let me say one thing. Not only does the president propose a large decrease in governmental revenue (i.e. targeted tax cuts), he is preparing for the prosecution of a full scale war, and still proposing new programs. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. I don't buy his logic that a tax cut gives more money to the people to pump into the economy, thus stimulating growth and creating jobs. His last little $300 refund was used by people to pay down debts and had little if any dicernable effect on the economy. Unemployment is a problem and the solution to it is to give money back to those who work? Hmmmmm. P.S. I don't nessecarily agree that all tax cuts are bad, however I just want the numbers to be clear and equitable across the board. Favorship of the rich is a dangerous perception, true or not, considering the ever growing gap between the upper and lower classes.

Your Avatar is Jet from Cowboy Bebop, wheres my cookie

Cheers and best wishes to you and your familys. Happy new year!

Yeah PerTrak will be sweet, I can't wait. I never cease to marvel at the commitment SC puts towards this game. It just keeps getting larger and better and closer and closer to the ideal space sim. (closer then it is already) I swear, I don't think the SC needs sleep like mere mortals such as us, thats the only way that this game could be as huge as it is.

Is anyone else excited about playing this game? I lost many a late hour to SC3000, and I can only imagine that this incarnation will be as big an improvement over SC3000 as SC3000 was over the orginal. http://simcity.ea.com/

Worst...website...EVER

Cmdr. Skowronski reports as ordered!

I think it really boils down to a question of social norms. While I hate that such is the case, conformity, especially for children, is an essential part of the creation of a positive self image. Seeing that "they" are like "me" confirms my own self-worth, as these people I see are alive and functioning harmoniously with each other (when viewed simplistically), and because I am like them, I am also alive and functioning harmoniously. Perhaps ultimately such concerns are both unfounded and worthless, but just as being afraid to go swimming because you are too fat or too skinny, or being afraid to let a girl see you with a shirt off because of acne problems, so too might being uncircumcised cause hesitation when pursuing a member of the opposite sex, or even worse, mortification might result by being rejected or made fun of by a girl who is uncomfortable with the cosmetic apperance. In each of these examples, stigma is attached to purely cosmetic variables, who by themselves have no effect on the worth of the individual. However, seeing how others percieve and react to these cosmetic variables, either favorably or negatively, leads to our assignment of value to these cosmetic variables, either good or bad, and ultimately leads to our perception of ourselves as either good or bad. This is a sad but true occurance, where self worth is formulated from variables that have no worth, and then this false judgement is accepted as true. This results from cultural perceptions of differance. I'll conjecture and say that American society views un-circumcised penises as not normal, (normal in the sense of common, not the sense of "right" or "good") with my evidense being that the vast majority of our pornography depicts men with circumcised penises. (forgive the vulgarity of the referance but I feel it serves a purpose) Pornography, i.e. porn-star type, not amature type, aims at presenting ideal sexual interactions, whereby fit and well endowed women interact with fit and well endowed men, who in the majority of cases are circumcised. Seeing this, we extrapolate that being circumsized is an ideal our culture accepts, just as we feel that large breasts and penises are ideal, when in fact an absence of such ideal has no bearing on our worth as a human being whatsoever. Just as a parent should be wary of assigning a name to a child that may evoke ridicule or jokes, so should a parent weigh any factor that may result in a child being unable to favorably compare themselves to thier peers. The bottom line is, kids can be cruel, and the risk involved in the removal of one extra source of possible ridicule pales when compared to the risk of possible social-acceptance problems caused by the assignment of the title "different from us." Having the procedure done is probably one of the most routine and safe medical procedures done on children today, and while I am certainly not saying that there is anything wrong with being uncircumcised, all I am saying is that having the procedure done removes any need to worry about so trivial a problem, and instead allows you to focus on ensuring your child experiances the best life they possibly can. [ 12-12-2002, 04:01 PM: Message edited by: goaliejerry ]

YES. Do it. Have it done when the child is small. I speak from personal experiance. I wasn't circumcised as a little kid, and eventually opted to have it done when I was a teenager. Health reasons were not what prompted me to do so, but rather cosmetic concerns. I was embarresed by it, no one elses where I came from looked like mine. It was a big deal, I was starting to get involved with girls, and I was embarressed to lets girls see it. It may be a cultural thing, as I don't know the demographics on those that do or do not have circumcised penises. But I was concerned enough about it to have it done, and it sucked because I was aware, no details but just imagine, *stiches*. A baby that young will truthfully have no recollection of the event, and I know that from experiance. When I was a child I had a lot of surgury done and I don't remember a bit of it. Thats why my mother didn't want me to become circumcised, as I had already gone through so much. But ultimately I wish she would have had it done when I was a baby. As far as reduction of sensitivity, I'll just say thats its just skin, not sensitive in and of itself, rather part of the whole system. In fact, it can be argued that because the skin naturally covers the head of the penis during intercourse, it might reduce sexual pleasure. And from personal experiance this is quite plausible, as I know what it is to be both circumcised and not. Have it done when the child is younger, if he's American I'll venture to say that he'll be glad you did. [ 12-12-2002, 01:52 AM: Message edited by: goaliejerry ]

I'd have to say that the ability to reason is the single most important aspect of the mind, with the imagination being a derivative of that.

Cmdr. Skowronski Reports as ordered!

SC3000, smooth jazz! Mario Bros, the orginal that came with nintendo, its the theme song of my youth!

http://maddox.xmission.com/ Thats the page the report card orginates from. Check it out, very funny rantings. Reminds me of stuff I would say, if I wasn't busy!

My apartment complex is installing T1's for us all. Two words: Boo - Ya!

The spoken audio in the preview for UJ is exactly the same dialouge used in swat. Yeah swat was cool because the AI was smart and arresting instead of killing people. That game was sweet.

Thats friggin' fantastic!

I just must ask; who else in this community is a college student in america? For it is thursday, and I have been drinking with my friends, and this evening has served me well towards the goal of helping me forget the stresses of everyday university life (such as proper spelling and reading and such)> Ah to be young and aimless, which I am no more. I am geared towards a life of Law, and I have felt it coming for years. Ah but I will forever miss and yearn for the life of youthful ignoarance and innocense. Anyone else?