wdiaz03

Is physical freedom truly freedom? The Native Americans would be free to roam the land but would they be free from their culture and believes? To say that the government handouts made then fat and lazy is to disrespect them, to not give them the freedom of choice to make up their own mind, why can't they stay fit playing some team sport? Why can't they see the tax farm for what it is? Even dogs in the wild would be physically free, but they would not be free from their programming. They digress into a hierarchy of domination by violence, of Alphas and Betas. Maybe you don't have to be physically free to be truly free. I have read the works of political prisoners that claim to feel free even when in the most inhumane of confinements. Maybe like Stef said, "to see the farm is to leave it"

Ah, It was a lucky guess, The Spanish sounded very accent neutral, very professional. Is that how you normally talk or did you made it sound like that on purpose. I was born in Cuba but have been away so long that I lost most of the Cuban accent so it makes it hard for people to tell where I'm from!

What an excellent job, Thanks for doing this. I couldn't tell where you are from by your Spanish accent (Puerto Rican maybe?)

Interesting since I was born in the island but I have not seen this one myself, on the topic I can recommend "The lost city" - 2005, which captures the atmosphere of the time quite well. I'll try to watch this one when I get a chance. Thanks.

I agree, but in order for the subsidies to have a positive effect in the long term, the economy must be free and fluid for the farmers to engage in more productive activities. Subsidies give the illusion that the food problem in the economy has been solved, but it is an artificial stimulus. when the subsidies stop the economy is not suited to pick up the slack. For example if pizzas started to fall from the sky tomorrow, the pizza problem would seem to have been solved, pizza restaurants would close and reopen as something else, everyone is better off. But if regulations and economic activity is restricted by the government then the pizza restaurant owners and employees will suffer since they are left with little choices to earn money. restaurants will remain closed and equipment will deteriorate, once the pizzas stop falling pizza restaurants will be ill equipped to ramp-up production

Right, but they can claim that man is bad but some can control it better than others. I can't say this is the case, I don't know how you can generalize and claim to know what drives statists. Look at the many vestigial organs and dead genes that exist. that is, I read humans have genes to make egg yolk etc. You seem to be discribing sympathy or compasion. Not empathy.From Wikipedia.Empathy is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being. One may need to have a certain amount of empathy before being able to experience accurate sympathy or compassion.I have also heard Stef define it like that.

Well, I don't understand why the proof is dependent on whether the moderator and his kids are good or moral. The moderator might believe he is one of the anointed ones, blessed with goodness and the power to control those that are evil. or he might believe he is good now, but without restrain from the government he might turn evil. What if we are all "selfish bastards" wouldn't that be evidence that a government is a bad idea since eventually it will be controlled by selfish bastards? I don't understand why it is important to generalize and group man as naturally good or naturally bad. I like to value each individual for their actions. Also I'm not sure one can make the leap that empathy evolved for a reason. It might have no big enough negative or positive benefit to have been naturally selected, Noise in the gene pool. Or empathy might not necessarily mean a tool for good. It's advantageous to develop a tool that predicts what another person is thinking as a way to control that person.

Hola Brian, Where in Florida are you? I'm in Miami. Welcome

I'm sorry for your situation and that of the kids. May I ask how old you are and the kids are? I don't know if there's much you can do about your mother at this point but You have not said much about your sister other than her drug addiction, how bad is it, what is her attitude now towards change? Have you talked to her about the abuse the children are receiving from your mom? How close are you to her? What are her plans once she gets out of rehab? I think you tried reasoning with your mom, It seems the next step is to try reasoning with your sister.

Howdy, Have you looked at Peter K. Gerlach site http://sfhelp.org/ It might have some useful information before pulling the trigger on the book. site is a little hard to get around last time I used it. Let me know what you think of the site or book if you buy it.

I'm glad you reached this conclusion.

Heck if my mom looked like that I'll be all over her too!

Lets give up sex while we are at it too. Well because its messy and a germ fest in all the body fluids involved. Egg and sperm will be extracted via catheter and mailed to a test tube farm and baby arrives 9 months later. Much healthier and less risky.

I wonder how many people pee and play with themselves in these things. I hope they change the water often!

You gotta love these fly-by threads, Throwing some argument around to see how many people bite and waste their time replying, and replying...Even if these was a valid argument (which is not) it is still consequential. Is it moral to enslave people to get better healthcare? Looking at the OP other threads it seems he is here to steer the pot.

Hey Daniel, Where in Miami are you?

More evidence, Here's a Republican who wants $12/h minimum wage. http://news.yahoo.com/entrepreneur-boost-calif-wages-12-hour-145345020--finance.html "LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democrats across the nation are eager to make increasing the minimum wage a defining campaign issue in 2014, but in California a proposal to boost the pay rate to $12 an hour is coming from a different point on the political compass. Ron Unz, a Silicon Valley multimillionaire and registered Republican who once ran for governor and, briefly, U.S. Senate, wants state voters to endorse the wage jump that he predicts would nourish the economy and lift low-paid workers from dependency on food stamps and other assistance bankrolled by taxpayers."

Its hard for me to see the question as you say it but that is probably because I already associated it to my way of understanding it. But besides that, I think that the test states that even if you have contradictions as long as you have good rational arguments to defend them you are ok, In your case you would not count that question as "wrong". I myself did not put too much emphasis on the final score as long as I was not holding a contradiction, and the only question I missed after further analysis proves that I don't because I can explain that I interpret it wrong. "The test identifies a pair of beliefs as being in tension, where (a) there is a direct contradiction between them, or (b) some sophisticated reasoning is required to allow both beliefs to be held consistently. If two of your beliefs are in tension, we advise that either giving one of them up, or developing some rationally coherent way of reconciling them (assuming you have not already done so)." So I can revise my final score as "Tension free" I can say I enjoyed the test, mostly the way they analyzed the results. I hate tests that just come to a conclusion based on your answers because of the problems you outlined, but this one explained the answers as they meant them, therefore one can revise ones answers if they don't fit their assumptions. I liked that.

I can agree with you here, And I was about to give you a positive vote, but I wasn't sure if you had a goal of -100 or something. I mean how do you get -93? and by doing nothing wrong, people just picked on you for no reason I guess.

I believe it was me that said it was a financial black hole. Again this is just my opinion, What do I know. But I believe that one might as well burn that money. The reason. The state of the financial markets will make further investments harder to procure in the future and the project will likely be abandoned half way like a badly planned ancient Egyptian pyramid. I don't think this is the right time for society to embark on something like this. If we had a free society around the world and had nothing better to do with the money, then sure, shoot it to outer space. Don''t get me wrong, I'm not advocating for an utilitarian approach. People can do with their money as they please. To me is like a 300lb guy who buys an Ab machine but changes nothing else in his lifestyle...To me he is just throwing his money away but that's my opinion, he can do with his money as he pleases.

Well, If I was a guard in one of Hitlers concentration camps and I let go one out of 100 jews before they go inside the gas chambers, I'm saving lives right? But I think you might have interpreted this question differently that I did. I assumed they meant that live was so important that cost to save lives should not be considered. Meaning we had to throw money at it without thinking. I think you might agree that this is nonsense. The right to life is so fundamental that financial considerations are irrelevant in any effort to save lives I disagreed although "life is quite important" each individual should decide how much to spend on a particular effort to save lives. I'm interested to see how you read this statement. I only got flagged for this one. But I think I have a good explanation to consolidate my beliefs. You agreed that: The environment should not be damaged unnecessarily in the pursuit of human ends But disagreed that: People should not journey by car if they can walk, cycle or take a train instead What I understood as unnecessarily was any action not applicable to that pursuit. For example Taking the car instead of walking is "OK" because it is necessary to take the car if you want to drive there. but it is not necessary for you to dump trash out of the car window as you drive there.

Welcome Melanie, I'm glad you were able to break those bonds with religion even if it took you a long time just think of the many who never do.

Lians, Reading your post reminded me of Stef comments regarding the Ron Paul movement, I believe he called it an early exit on the highway of truth or something like that. I remember thinking that Rom Paul was my way of getting here so it could not be that bad, but reading your post you make a valid point. Some people like me can quickly see it as a distraction and get back on the road, but maybe for many others its like a sticky fly trap they can't easily leave. Your thoughts?

You don't say how old you are and if you have any medical conditions.

I can agree with all you said, I would just caution people not to stop short of a goal because they might think its unattainable. You have to be rational about your goals. How much sugar/carbs is being consumed? and how natural that is. how much exercise is being done etc. I'm of the believe from personal experience that one can look relatively good by eating smarter and a little exercise. I'm not talking rounded belly either, Last time I did a 7 pinch fat test I was on the high single digits of body fat. Even if I screwed up some of the measurements and I'm in the low double digits I consider that amazing results compared to the work I'm putting in.