Guard Dog

Which one? The one on Oakland Park and US1 was incredible. I can't remeber the name but it was great.

Hopefully you're referring to others (but I really can't tell who - everyone in this thread seems a separate entity), but because I'm still irked off that a certain moderator accuses me of being LoF (and used the possibility of banning him permanently to try and threaten me - again, go ahead!) I want to clarify that I am not him, and being accused of being him is pretty insulting, because I agree with him (and the way he acts) about as much as I do taks. /insecure rant Well, I wasn't exactly calling you out Krezy, but we have a saying here in Tennessee: "The guilty dog barks the loudest" Kidding of course.

It's cold here today. Damn cold. This global warming is just too much!

Is it just me or does anyone get the impression that there have not been as many actual people participating in this discussion as user names?

Last Weeks Results: Kelverin: 11-5 GD: 11-5 Volo: 8-8 Season Standings: Kelverin: 162-77 GD: 159-80 Volo: 156-83 Volo led the who season and just fell apart at the end! It's down to you an me now Kel.

Colts Browns Bears Niners Steelers Vikings Bucs Panthers Texans Cards Chargers Titans Ravens Eagles Broncos Jets Volo...where are you Volo? You've only got an hour and a half left!

Sorry Tig, I am only famliar with US based animal groups and the American Red Cross. The ones I contribute to regularly are listed in in the "communisim-is-great-and-you-should-be-killed-if-you-don't-agree" thread. One new one I'm adding next year it a local Memphis charity: Memphis Oral School for the Deaf. They are now offering free Cochlear Implants for low income deaf children allowing them to hear again. Many for thr first time. One thing I have heard several time and it makes sense I guess is that if you want your donations to benefit a certain country, donate to a group based in that country. Operating costs of international groups crossing borders and dealing with multiple governments are such that they tend to be financally inefficient with just 20-40% going to actual work and the rest lost in bueracracy. So if you wand you money benefiting New Zealand pick a group based there. That is not to say groups like Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, International Red Cross, etc don't do a lot of good in the world, just it costs more to do it.

I just found out, an old NWN module I made eight or nine years ago made it into the Hall of Fame over on the NWN Vault. I hadn't thought about that thing in a while. I'll have to DL it again and run through it.

What a freaking night! It was really great. I met my GF at the Blue Cafe for a light but romantic dinner, then off to the Peabody Hotel where the rooftop and penthouse were all the scene of the best New Years bash between St Louis and New Orleans. The champagne was free and flowing and the drinks were all top shelf. We had an incredible time. We met Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies, we spoke for a little bit. Afterwards we stopped one of her friends places where there was an great party going on, then we went back to my house for more champagne on the porch at 4 am on a clear, cold night with coyotes howling in the distance. She's staying here untill tomorrow. Best NY in a long time.

Why wouldn't I? A century and a half ago, certain states tried it because they were caught in a social era of savage barbarism, against a tide of left-wing thought. They would be put down just as thoroughly. It has been established for nearly fifteen decades that states cannot secede. So, you are opposed to using military force to advance US goals and interests around the world but using it to kill and coerce Americans who want their freedom is ok huh? That really sums you up doesen't it? You do not believe in communisim because it is fair or right, you as much as say you favor it because it is oppressive and brutal. Interesting that you equate slave owning and the desire to live in economic and personal freedom together as savage barbarisim. You an Yushaa do have a lot in common. He is well known for posting long multi page rants on what a beautiful place the world would be if the nations would just rise up an kill all of the Americans. I guess that does it. You sir are a lost cause and discussion with you is a little pointless.

Why depressing Krezack? You are a young single college guy. If you have no other plans just walk into any bar near your university tonight and try to pick up an older woman. The best part about hunting cougars is they are also hunting you! Failing that I'm sure you can come up with something (or someone) interesting to do. I have a date tonight with a certain beautiful blonde nurse who managed to get two tickets to the party on top of the Peabody Hotel in downtown. Very swanky stuff. Only problem is I've lost a little weight this year and some of my best clothes did not fit right. I had to do a little shopping yesterday. Next year I'm buying some weight lifting equipment for the barn. I felt my best when I was 200 lbs (just under 91 kg for you metric types) and working out regularly. I have not done that much this year. Time to get back to it. Wow, a new years resolution to gain wait. Now that is backwards.

Also you gotta love how Christianity is now blamed for the Dark Ages. I thought it was the result on the collpase of the Western Roman Empire and the crumbling of the provincial govenments followed by the withdraw of the remaining legions to Constantinople. Their depature created a vaccum that was filled by barbarian tribes, local warlords, and a few remaining Romans with adequate military strengh to control a few miles of land. Most of these were NOT christians by the way. In Roma and all through the east Christianity had a firm hold but the western provinces still followed a plothestic version of the more traditional Roman beliefs. The barbarians largely followed the faith of ther people. I also noted there was no mention of the men who brought the Dark Ages to an end and brought on the renaissance, Charlamegne, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, I could go one. Every one of them were christians.

A divine experience is an experience with the divine. The point I am making is that a person who has a singular event without any witnesses still have that experience and that experience would be fact for them, even though it wouldn't be verifiable to another. If there was no physical evidence and no other witnesses of the murder, yet GD said he saw it happen, it would be a fact for him that the murder took place, while a exercise of belief for others. That really depends on my credibilty as a witness. If I were a drunk or drug addict, or just nuts and witnessed something it would have less weight than if I appeared to be just a normal person. That is where Nightshape disqualifies anything I might say about religion because he thinks I'm nuts (you know, my imaginary friend, God). I commented before about arrogance and hubris and how athiests were closer to communists than christians were. The theists (including killian, being hostile to God but still believing qualifies) on this board are not insulting or ridiculing the atheists, but it seems the reverse is not true. You gotta love his knee jerk response; anyone who has a different belief is deluded or crazy or ignorant. Like I said, arrogance and hubris enough to make LoF envious.

How sure of that are you? Honestly, people who post on the internet hardly remind me of the sort who would fight and die for their beliefs. Would you rebel against the US government, if there was a lawfully elected socialist or communist government? Humor aside here, I would not need to rebel. There would be a number of states that would seceede. I'd just go there. Let me turn that one around on you though, if you lived in a now truely socialist America and say half the states seceeded to form a new nation in the mold of the original US Constitution would you advocate war against them for reunification?

Poorly trained paramilitaries are hardly the threat you seem to think they are. Besides, if there's a revolution, it will have an appearance of propriety. Your reaction would seem disproportionate and wild to most. A revolution here is not going to occur tomorrow in some kind of socialist putsch. It will be the product of a generation's work, and of months of hard labor before the actual act. In 1904, it would seem as bizarre and insane to think of a socialist Russia as it is today to think of a socialist America. No sense of humor! Evidently you did not get it, you are the one who said there are no rights that are sacrosanct. Gun owners beleive the right to keep and bear is. So the ones who beleive in rights are the ones that own the guns. It was meant to be a little joke but I guess I did not set it up all that well. Besides, you strike me as a humorless fellow anyway.

Don'r worry Kill & KOTOR, this discussion is all academic anyway. LoF and those like him are a tiny fraction of a minority, and even if his ilk ever did gain any political power those of us who view individual rights as sacrosanct are the ones that own guns and are willing to use them.

Add to that the Gramm Leach Biley Act passed under Bill Clinton which allowed investment banks to merge operations with FDIC ensures savings banks, undoing a depression era law (The Glass Stengal Act) that was passed as a lesson learned from 1929. Also a BIG factor was the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act passed under Carter by an all democrat congress that got the federal governmet out of the business or regulating banks and setting interest rates. I laugh when I hear liberals and democrats complain about Wall Street being out of control and needing regulation. They used to be regulated, it was the DEMOCRATS who removed the regulations in the first place, then passed laws forcing them to loan to bad credit risks and then acted surprised when the whole thing collapsed. It was almost like they wanted the financial system to collapse, I'd say it was a conspiracy but they are not smart enough for that. Merely incompetent and lacking any idea how economies actually work.

Don't give me too much credit Hiro, I am convince the whole concept of anthropogenic global warming is just absurd to begin with. For example, last year I posted a whole week long series the BBC ran on Mars and Venus and how their surface temps were rising and falling at an even rate with the earth. Nobody here wanted to believe it. It's become a religion to these nitwits. They can't explain it, they can't conclusively prove it, the skeptics cannot disprove it. But they believe it. Ironicly the one who do are ususally the same ones who just can't use the same logic to believe in God. I find that very comical.

No sense of humor!

Lets all do as Al Gore suggests, abandon technology and return to feudal economics. It's a rough life but hey, the life expectancy was in the 40s so at least you did not have to deal with it for long.

In the US it can still be done if you are so inclined. But my meaning was more along the lines of not buying what you do not need to live, just give up luxury, ammnities like computers, cell phones, etc. Don't spend your money in large stores/big companies, buy from small business only. Yes you will pay more and get less but if you are doing this out of some kind of priciple then you should be ok with that. And when all that is said and done take all the money you have left over and give it to someone else. See, it's just like communisim only you are doing it yourself rather than having the government do it to everyone else. I bet LoF doesn't do this.

The beauty of Christianity, and freedom for that matter, is you can take it or leave it. You do not need to believe in it at all. It's purely voluntary. I do not have to prove God exists to believe it. You do not need to disprove him to disbelieve it. Like I said, I do not pretend to know who or what God is, what his motivations are, and you will never hear me saying who will/won't/should/shouldn't go to hell or heaven. Thats beyond me. When it comes to theology there are two simple premises to choose from and both are absurd on their face: 1) A supreme being that you cannot see or interact with or even prove/disprove the existence of created everything or 2) Nothing created everthing You need the pick the one that makes the most sense to you based on YOUR life experiences, education, etc. Capitalisim you can also take or leave. If you do not wish to participate just don't buy things. Don't consume. You can opt out at any time. But for the Communist it's not enough for them to choose not to participate, they have to destroy the whole system to ensure that YOU don't participate as well. I have to tell you most of the atheists I hae met are a lot closer to communists than capitalists. It's not enough that they do not believe in God, they cant suffer to be around anyone who does and harrases them with the same condescending arrogance that LoF had down to an art. Ironic isn't it?

Is that so? http://www.thetowerofhope.org/ They train dogs (including dogs from animal control) to be service animals to the disabled. The animals are trained, vetted and placed for free. http://www.guidingeyes.org/ They train dogs to be seeing eye dogs for the blind. They are trained and placed for free. Many of their alumni are former shelter dogs. http://www.petsfortheelderly.org/ Pays all pet adoption and veterinary expenses so low income elderly people can adopt a companion from an animal shelter And of course I donate $1K to the American Red Cross every year. I'm guessing you hate them too because they support our military. I also volunteer my time and material goods to USMC Toys for Tots and I volunteer at Freedom Farm Animal Sanctuary when I can where I help with rehabilitiation/behaviour modification for dogs used for dog fighting (something I've had a lot of experience with since three of my dogs were rescued from dog fighting operations). I guess buying toys of poor and sick children don't provide any benefit to the poor in your opinion either? I'm sure all of those groups will be glad to hear they do nothing for the poor. The problem with you is arrogance. Any viewpoint other than your own has no merit to you. Small wonder you advocate a totalitarian society where those who disagree are met with death or imprisionment. Your other big problem is ignorance. "You give to dogs!" but it never entered into your mind how that might be a help to someone. You are obviously educated and intelligent but not very wise and without question you are lacking in any real compassion. I'm guessing you are probably just a little young. I find it ironic that you are here throwing out the "Christian" virtues to be found in an economic/governmental system that strips away the most important part of being Christian; Choice, Altruisim, doing right because you choose to do right, because it IS right. I take it by your answer you do not give to any charity at all, not your money, not your time. Since you have your bible out anyway why not look up Matthew 5:7 or Matthew 25:34-40. While we are on the subject, care to offer an opinion on why communist states all over the world and through their history have made it a practice to stamp out and peresecute religious freedom and implement strict enforecement of state athiesim? I mean, since you are here telling us how communisim is in keeping with christianity that seems like a pretty relevant question to me.

Now reading Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel and The Lance and the Shield by Robert Utley. It's a biography of Sitting Bull. Very interesting man.

Depends on your definition of coercion I think. Communists just have the power to enforce their threats while Christians don't. It's an odd contrast to hear "Why can't we be friends!?" and "YOU'RE GONNA BURN IN HELL IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN THE ALMIGHTY DUDE IN THE SKY WHO MADE ZOMBIES!" from the same person You know, I've had this conversation before and I'll repeat now what I said then. There are two things about God I know to be a fact. 1) There is a God 2) I'm not God I don't know who gets into heaven and who does not. I don't know what is a sin or what isn't. It is the height of idocy for one human to tell another "You are going to hell". It is for far greater beings to judge the worth of someones soul. I do not know if prayers are answered, or ignored as the deists would tell you. I do not know if God has predetermined everything and there is no free will as the Calvanists propose. I do know if the Baptists are right and drinking and sex out of marriage are mortal sins then I'm already screwed. The reason I am a Christian is that there were two incidents in my life, one just this year, that convined me beyond doubt that while my chosen faith may not be all true as I understand it, there is very much truth in it. @ LoF: I am a real world Libertarian. I believe in, above all other things, the unimpeded freedom of the individual (one big reason why you and I will NEVER agree on anything LoF). Jesus taught that the virtue in giving comes from doing it because you WANT to do it. Not because the state TOOK it from you. Jesus said "What you do for the least of my children you do for me". If I donated my entire paycheck to a charity because I wanted to, that is virtuous. If the state confiscates my entire paycheck and uses it for what it deems "the greater good" there is no virtue in that for me. There is no virtue in it at all. It is just a group of people taking something they did not earn away from someone who did. There is a word for that too. Just curious LoF. Do not answer if you will not answer honestly. I donated just under $3500 total to six different charities (most of them dog rescue groups) this past year. How much did you give?