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On another thread I posted how I was going to see a show on the 4th of July, a comedy, musical, African Tale about the credit system. This is a very liberal political theatre company that I used to be a member of for a few years.
If you'd like to know more google The San Francisco Mime Troupe.
Okay this maybe a spoiler for those of you in the Bay Area who may come to see the show this Summer but, at the end of the show the village realizes that they a have been believing in some kind of 'magic' when really it was all a 'trick'. The people of the village also realized that they have well paid off their debt to the Demon and if they want to release themselves of the Demon's spell they have to.....
stop paying their "debt" to the demon!
And, the demon will FALL!
And, everyone will be released from it's spell!
....thoughts......?
I know sometimes these open ended questions can be annoying on a forum but since I have established (to myself) that you are all much smarter than me, I'd love to hear (or read) any thoughts on this hypothetical situation.
What if even a third of the credit card debt owing population of America just stopped paying their debt? If not a third, half then, 3 quarters, ALL, THE WORLD!!!!!
What would happen....?
C
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How are you celebrating July 4th? Independence Day... the founding fathers wanted us to make a little noise and have a party with FIREWORKS!!!
John Adams wrote his wife, Abigail, "I believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival."
"It ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other."
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The real problem is that most who claim to be agnostic here have such a negative view of religion. Just a random statement from Red like Funny how most of these problems with bigotry in the US are centered in Christianity and Worldwide in Religion indicates more than a netual position about Christianity or religion but a hostile atitude.Here I think as an historian I can prove this proposition wrong. Yet it is made in such a vague way without definitions I am not sure what he means.
Well which is it? Can you prove it wrong or are you weaseling out of your statement?  I would bet the list of religious-related bigotry FAR exceeds non-religious-related bigotry, in fact, I have been sitting here trying to think of one and I can't think of any. The instances of genocide alone which make everything else pale in comparison seem to be all religion-related. I look forward to your attempt, maybe you'll teach me something, or I, you.
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South Carolina's Playboy Governor, Mark Sanford has been replaced as head of the RGA (Republican Governor's Association) by former Washington lobbyist and current Mississippi Governor, Haley Barbour. Gov, Sanford has apparently backed out of an earlier promise he made to release his personal financial records which might (or might not) prove that he did not use public money for trips to be with his 41 year old Argentine mistress and "Soulmate" Maria Belen Chapuv.
Sanford also revealed that he had "crossed lines" with several other women as well, but never had sex with them. If that remark sounds a bit Bill Clintonish, that's because it is. Obviously, Governor Sanford needs to clarify exactly what he means by the vague term "crossed lines." Is that more sleazy Southern Governor talk for oral sex, or some other unwholesome anti-family value adulterous sexual behavior?
Thank God Governor Barbour was willing to sally forth and fill in for Sanford at this critical time in Republican Governorshipness. Barbour co-founded Barbour, Rogers, and Griffith LLC, a washington lobbying firm which was listed by Fortune magazine in 1991 as THE number 1 lobbying firm in the country...the lowly esteemed firm raked in $ millions lobbying for...the tobacco companies.
In the early 1980's, during a failed bid for a Mississippi senate seat, a Barbour aide told Barbour that some "coons" might show up at the next campaign stop (the state fair). Barbour was overheard to tell the aide that if he kept using such racist remarks, he would be "...reincarnated as a watermelon and placed at the mercy of blacks." In such trying times as these, it's reassuring to know we have men like this to lead our nation's GOP governors foward.
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Sorry, but I've got nothing.
How do you prove to the doubters, something that you deal with everyday? It's like making a case for the existence of horses. For me, I know they are real because they simply are. I can't explain why I know horses are real. I see them sometimes as I drive by places where they are, and they occupy quite a bit of space in literature and the media. But to prove that horses are real to someone who thinks they are not? I just don't relate to that line of thinking.
For me, God simply is. I was taught about Him from my earliest days on this planet, and I speak to and hear from Him all the time. I understand that many other people do not have this same relationship with Him that I do. I do get it that for some people, silence is all they feel they get from Him, and therefore Him being nothing but a fable is the logical choice. I'm ok with that.
Really, I am. Ok with that. Anyone who has used logic to conclude that God doesn't appear to exist; who is simply piecing together what is probable based upon the information supplied. Some of you (I'm mostly thinking of Red here, who doesn't know me that well), may have gotten the impression lately that I'm a pompous idiot who is set in his beliefs no matter how illogical they are. I would like to assure you that this is not the case.  Sometimes, when accused of being something I'm not, I simply play the part that's expected of me.
I can understand the atheist's predicament; of trying to prove the obvious to those who see otherwise. For me of course, this is the fact that God does exist. How could He not??? We could question His character, or the identity of the being I talk to thinking it's Him, but not His very existence. In a similar way, someone who doesn't believe in horses could try to convince me that the animals I see are not *real* horses, and that would make it further than simply telling me that they are not real, and therefore whatever it is that I think I'm seeing is really nothing at all.
How does a person go about proving that God is real?
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Miami's exiled rightwing Cuban elite could possibly be joined by Honduras' rightwing elite as a result of their probable ouster in an imminent counter-coup and/or popular revolution. Watch and see.
The anti-democratic military coup is being condemned around the world, including by the US and the OAS. The pressure is on and will only build.
http://tinyurl.com/lzsobg
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No tent for God at Camp Dawkins Britain’s most prominent non-believer is backing its first atheist summer camp for children. 
This five-day summer-camp is being subsidized by Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion, and is intended to provide an alternative to the faith-based summer camps normally run by the Scouts and Christian groups.
One parent, Crispian Jago, is sending his two daughters to Camp Quest this summer. “I’m very keen on not indoctrinating them with religion or creeds,” he said. “I would rather equip them with the tools to learn how to think, not what to think.”
Afternoons at the camp will involve familiar fun summer-camp activities such as canoeing and swimming, and mornings will be spent in talks and group circles debunking supernatural phenomena such as the formation of crop circles, ghosts, and telepathy, and children will be shown how to perform Uri Geller's spoon-bending illusion.
Something the camp wishes to focus on is the introduction of "critical thinking" to the youngsters who will attend. One of the fun ways this will be done is a week-long game called "The Invisible Unicorn Challenge!"
In the game, children will be told by camp counselors that the area all around around their tents is inhabited by two unicorns. The activities of these incompatible unicorns, of which there will be no physical evidence, will be regularly discussed, their "history" explained, and occasional "witnesses" will talk about them, yet the children will be asked to prove that the unicorns do not exist.
A cash prize is being offered to any child who is able to prove that these two unicorns do not exist. Camp organizers say the object of the game is to encourage critical thinking, to drive home the fact that you can't "prove" a negative, and to show that belief in stories based on no evidence can be a personal choice but can not be insisted upon as truth or fact.
Camp Quest originated in the U.S., where the atheist summer camp has been operating in six states since 1996, with a seventh due to open in Florida this summer.
Since Richard Dawkins is subsidizing this camp, the cost of sending children is considerably less than comparable summer camps run by the Scouts or by religious organizations, and instead of spending mornings doing faith-based activities and prayer, children will be asked to learn to think.
Is there anyone here who would send their kids to such a camp? Is Camp Quest a threat or a boon?
Source: The Sunday Times, timesonline.co.uk
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Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier continues to grow despite global warming.
Scientists don't seem to have a clear explanation as to why this is happening.
Does anyone have a theory as to why this particular glacier would continue to enlarge while all the others are melting?
("Global warming is a myth" is not an acceptable answer, unless it also explains why all the other glaciers are melting.)
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Since his election, President Obama has become not only the messiah, but a magician. He has reached into his hat and pulled out a dazzling number of misleading rhetorical tricks. All he needs now are sequins. Of course never mind the problem that he is supposed to be honest with the American people, a trivial issue.
Let’s begin with his much-touted claim that his Administration is responsible for having “saved or created” at least 150,000 American jobs, even though we have shed well over a million jobs since Obama took office. Jesus may have turned water into wine – but even He did not claim to have turned job losses into job gains. That is the picture Obama is trying to portray. Of course, to place an empirical figure on the number of jobs Obama has “saved” is an invention of George Lucasian proportions; if Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush had tried to get away with such a stunt, they would have been ridiculed and criticized mercilessly. However, the brown-nosing Obama press corps, reports the claim as if it were written on tablets of stone carried by Moses.
Oh but wait....there's more.
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One of the most amazing things I've ever heard of.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/Story?id=7880954&page=1
"Brooke Greenberg is the size of an infant, with the mental capacity of a toddler.
She turned 16 in January. "
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The majority of people (about 60%) who had an heart attack during their sleep, did not wake up. However, if it occurs, the chest pain may wake you up from deep sleep. If that happens, immediately dissolve 2 aspirins in your mouth and swallow them with a bit of water.
Afterward, phone a neighbor or a family member who lives very close by and state "I'm having a heart attack" and that you have taken 2 aspirins. Take a seat on a chair or sofa and wait for their arrival and do not lie down.
NOTE: There may be no pain in the chest during an heart attack. There are other symptoms of an heart attack besides pain in the left arm. One must also be aware of an intense pain on the chin, as well as nausea and lots of sweating, however these symptoms may also occur less frequently.
Save lives... It is important to always have aspirin in the home.
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