tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post794230761001142494..comments2024-03-28T12:34:14.649-07:00Comments on dangerous idea: Lawsuit filed against one of my former teachersVictor Repperthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10962948073162156902noreply@blogger.comBlogger148125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-31980170388687542652012-09-18T15:04:53.409-07:002012-09-18T15:04:53.409-07:00As an atheist I have to say that I'm embarrass...As an atheist I have to say that I'm embarrassed by the alleged atheists posting here. Their child-like attitudes (presumably, because they are teens or twenty-somethings)about their fellow citizens who are religious border on the sociopathic.<br /><br />Atheists must share public spaces like community colleges with religious people -- so long as there is no "avowal of divine faith"(as the Supreme Court wrote in Engel v. Vitale) by school officials, there is no Establishment Clause issue.<br /><br />That's what *establishing* an official religious orthodoxy means: that a non-believer is "encouraged" (again from the Engel case) to adopt beliefs.<br /><br />Simply listening to a believer doesn't count.whitetowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09031401908749545680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-11293979561961215402012-01-02T14:57:09.248-07:002012-01-02T14:57:09.248-07:00I think that it is time for Gangadean to answer so...I think that it is time for Gangadean to answer some questions.<br /><br />why % of the PVCC Philosophy Club Presidents have been members of Gangadean's church?<br /><br />Has Gangadean recruited students on campus (along with their friends) to be members of Gangadean's church.<br /><br />Where is the documentation that substantiates that Gangadean did not violate AZ conflict of interest laws.<br /><br />Gangadean get's paid by the state to teach his religion. Its time he did the ethical thing and teach a broad spectrum of interllectual philosophical thought instead of his myopic rubbishAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-81637278105957267752012-01-02T14:49:06.579-07:002012-01-02T14:49:06.579-07:00I found your blog today. You amuse me. You have ...I found your blog today. You amuse me. You have given the absence of reason and the Ignorance has new meaning. You set a new low for wisdom.<br /><br />First of all – it is NOT about religion. It is about the 1st Amendment Establish clause. It is about using tax dollars to teach fairy tales. As for atheisim, well – go agrue with them – but bring the great white hope with you because YOUR LOGIC HAS MORE HOLES than an aerated green.<br /><br />Your idea is “nutty” to present unbiased, to the best of our ability. Now I think you are hysterical. I don’t care if Burton is consistent – she is a fraud with regards to the objective teaching of ethics. (Does that make her unethical?).<br /><br />And are you stupid regarding the law?<br />You needs grounds to sue.<br /><br />And you took the class upteen years ago – maybe, just maybe the coursev has changed. Gee, ya didn’t think of that.<br /><br />In a test, there is virtually 1 answer – god =good & did not create evil. Jay Leno should get a hold of that one.<br /><br />Thank you for your blog. It gets people thinking and Mr. Gangadean seems to come out on the losing end. Gee, no surprise thereAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-82020165029728432642011-09-29T17:46:18.482-07:002011-09-29T17:46:18.482-07:00Bob
About the DuPuy foxhole strategy - fantastic i...Bob<br />About the DuPuy foxhole strategy - fantastic info.<br /><br />Your final paragraph is exactly what life is all about. I just come to it from a very different perspective than you, a secular humanist one.<br /><br />CheersPapalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-39567474580692151242011-09-29T09:21:39.110-07:002011-09-29T09:21:39.110-07:00Ilion, I thought I'd save you the trouble of l...Ilion, I thought I'd save you the trouble of looking it up. Here is the original posting. Now please show me where there's an ounce of partisanship in it.<br /><br />I do not know whether or not "Ilion" is a Christian, but be that as it may, the philosophy he espouses is straight from Hell. It is, in fact, that place's governing constitution. Let me explain:<br /><br />I am forever amazed by how much my entire subsequent life has been influenced by the relatively short time I spent in the Army (1975-1979). I truly believe that I learned and grew more in those four years than in any other comparable length of time. From insignificant mannerisms (how I stand, what I do with my hands while walking, the fact that I always start off on the left foot) to fundamental ways I view the world, I keep finding bits and pieces of my Army experience down there in my subconscious, nudging (or pushing) me in one direction or another.<br /><br />One really good example is foxholes. One of the first things we learned in Basic Training at good old Fort Ord, California, was the correct (that is, the Army’s) way to dig one. And if you have some picture in your mind taken from a host of cheesy WWII movies (hole in the ground, head and rifle sticking out) – get rid of it now. What we were taught was the DuPuy foxhole, named after the Marine general who invented it. DuPuy had studied the carnage of Vietnam (remember, I enlisted only about 3 months after the fall of Saigon), and realized that everyone had been doing it all wrong ever since, well… ever since ever. The problem with firing out of a hole in the ground was that an advancing foe could fire right back at you. Thus the high casualty rate on both sides in a defensive battle.<br /><br />What DuPuy came up with was a system of mutually supporting two-man foxholes. “Buddy Teams” of two soldiers would each dig their own pit, piling all the excavated dirt directly in front of the hole, completely blocking one’s view straight ahead. When you were finished, you could fire diagonally to the left or to the right, but immediately in front of you was this great earthen berm, higher than your head. The end result was that, in a line of these DuPuy “Defensive Fire Pits” (to use the official term), each buddy team was responsible for protecting the team to either side of them, while their own defense was left in turn to those teams. To work, the system required complete trust between the teams. You yourself could do absolutely nothing to protect yourself, and concentrated all your attention and efforts on defending your neighbors.<br /><br />Think about this for a moment. There is a really profound principle at work here. One that I think goes to the very core and fundament of our being - of the universe itself. It is the indispensable principle behind How We Must Live. As the poet Charles Williams so beautifully put it:<br /><br />This abides – that the everlasting house the soul discovers<br />is always another’s; we must lose our own ends;<br />we must always live in the habitation of our lovers,<br />my friend’s shelter for me, mine for him.<br /><br />The consequence of ignoring this is not just selfishness. It is not just missed opportunity or a life sadly lacking in color or meaning – it is a violation of the very nature of reality. To attempt to live for one’s self is an exercise in futility – you will fail.<br /><br />One of my favorite passages in the New Testament occurs near the end of Mark. Christ has been crucified, and various passersby taunt him, asking why He doesn’t “save yourself and come down from the cross”. They conclude with the scoffing remark, “He saved others, himself he cannot save”.<br /><br />Wow. Read that again. What was meant as a contemptuous dismissal, as a cynical comment on apparent failure, turns out to be the very key to The Meaning of Life itself. We cannot save ourselves – we must rely on others. And it is up to us to save them in turn. This is what it means to be a Human Being. When we fall short of this principle, we fall short of, and even deny altogether, our very Humanity.B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-83171317342095029412011-09-29T06:19:28.438-07:002011-09-29T06:19:28.438-07:00Ilíon said...
Let's see; this fact ought to re...Ilíon said...<br /><i>Let's see; this fact ought to really throw the "liberals" into a state of brain-lock -- <br />My father, who was a Southerner, wanted to vote for *both* George Wallace and Shirley Chisholm.</i><br /><br />Why would that cause brain-lock?<br /><br /><i>Here's another fact with which "liberals" can't really deal --<br />My father, who was raised a share-cropper (i.e. grew up in poverty I can't imagine (*) ), loathed and detested FDR to his dying day.</i><br /><br />Why would that be hard to deal with?<br /><br /><i>(*) in similar wise to that I grew up in poverty that most persons reading this cannot imagine.</i><br /><br />It's sad how little you think of people.One Browhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11938816242512563561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-59506753931498545472011-09-28T18:44:14.050-07:002011-09-28T18:44:14.050-07:00Ilion,
Re-read my original posting. I stand by ev...Ilion,<br /><br />Re-read my original posting. I stand by every word, and there's not an ounce of partisanship in any of it. Please go back and try to find some in it, if you can. You won't be able to find what isn't there.<br /><br />And yes, your views are indeed (still) Hell's governing constitution. I don't say that as an insult, but rather as a charitable warning.B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-16785141235655571902011-09-28T18:31:07.699-07:002011-09-28T18:31:07.699-07:00"I also am the only person I know who can pro..."<i>I also am the only person I know who can proudly make the claim that he voted for both Barry Goldwater and George McGovern.</i>"<br /><br />[Bill Clinton]Hills? It that you?[/Bill Clinton]<br /><br />Let's see; this fact ought to really throw the "liberals" into a state of brain-lock -- <br />My father, who was a Southerner, wanted to vote for *both* George Wallace and Shirley Chisholm.<br /><br />Here's another fact with which "liberals" can't really deal --<br />My father, who was raised a share-cropper (i.e. grew up in poverty I can't imagine (*) ), loathed and detested FDR to his dying day.<br /><br />(*) in similar wise to that I grew up in poverty that most persons reading this cannot imagine.Ilíonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15339406092961816142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-39802083909769328792011-09-28T18:26:12.766-07:002011-09-28T18:26:12.766-07:00Bob
"Paplinton,
Damn! I missed the little con...Bob<br />"Paplinton,<br />Damn! I missed the little concession in your last posting, where you equated your "personal views" (a.k.a., atheism) with "faith". I'll take the point as conceded, thank you!"<br /><br />Sorry, Bob. not even close. imprecision of the English language. The word 'personal' was mistakenly selected by me to mean 'particular'. <br /><br />It should have read, "But you deny me my <i>particular</i> view and ..."Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-174087294786222802011-09-28T18:24:06.733-07:002011-09-28T18:24:06.733-07:00Hell's Little Partisan: "So be careful wh...<b>Hell's Little Partisan:</b> "<i>So be careful who you might label a blind party partisan without actually knowing the guy!</i>"<br /><br />That's rich, isn't it? I mean, coming from they guy who asserts that my religio-socio-economic views on human liberty are "the constitution of Hell."Ilíonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15339406092961816142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-77504407272531775782011-09-28T18:20:34.412-07:002011-09-28T18:20:34.412-07:00Yo! Baby!
It worksYo! Baby!<br /><br /><b>It works</b>Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-33709363490105711552011-09-28T18:19:39.488-07:002011-09-28T18:19:39.488-07:00Let me have a go.
Testing, testing, testing
Does...Let me have a go.<br /><br /><i>Testing, testing, testing</i><br /><br />Does it work?Papalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-4620629656046725172011-09-28T18:00:26.359-07:002011-09-28T18:00:26.359-07:00I've remained silent so far on your mischaract...<i>I've remained silent so far on your mischaracterization of me as a partisan Democrat</i><br /><br />Silent? You freaked out and insisted I was a GOP loyalist and went on and on about how everyone serves someone so not being loyal to either party was not an option. And you went off on how fantastic it is that a particular state is so "deep blue".<br /><br />I can only judge you by what you say, and at no point did you deny that you were a democrat party loyalist - your response was to strongly imply *I* was a party loyalist.<br /><br />Nevertheless, I repeat: I realize there's more to you than your politics. But if the line in the sand is the political affiliation, so be it.Crudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04178390947423928444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-59850850541391808422011-09-28T17:42:02.937-07:002011-09-28T17:42:02.937-07:00I've remained silent so far on your mischaract...I've remained silent so far on your mischaracterization of me as a partisan Democrat, but before this error gets set in stone on this website, I will have break my silence to say I have voted all over the map as far as party affiliation is concerned. My favorite politician active today happens to not be a Democrat, and I greatly admire at least two of the current Republican hopefuls. I also am the only person I know who can proudly make the claim that he voted for both Barry Goldwater and George McGovern. Admittedly, my support of Democratic candidates for the presidency has outnumbered Republicans (over the years, I've voted in 8 elections for the Democrat, and only 3 for the Republican), but those figures do at least prove that I am far from blindly partisan!<br /><br />So be careful who you might label a blind party partisan without actually knowing the guy!B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-43864696707366385172011-09-28T17:24:07.128-07:002011-09-28T17:24:07.128-07:00And as much as you and I spar with each other, I s...<i>And as much as you and I spar with each other, I strongly suspect we have a lot more in common than I do with the likes of Ilion or Crude.</i><br /><br />Please. You have plenty in common with me, and I have plenty in common with you. I think your politics - specifically your over-identification with a political party - are absurd. But I also know better than to think that's all there is to you or your thoughts.<br /><br />But hey, if you want to view my dislike of party loyalty as the line in the sand, so be it. Atheists over Catholics, so long as the atheist pulls the right lever in the election, it seems.Crudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04178390947423928444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-61232743507374874852011-09-28T17:18:20.806-07:002011-09-28T17:18:20.806-07:00So, is this how one <i>italicizes</i>?...So, is this how one <i><i>italicizes</i></i>?<br /><br />And would this be how one <b><b>bolds</b></b>?Ilíonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15339406092961816142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-69294890646688946982011-09-28T17:11:52.193-07:002011-09-28T17:11:52.193-07:00"Hah! And some people on this site say I'..."<i>Hah! And some people on this site say I'm unteachable, Take that!</i>"<br /><br />I'm aware only of it being said that you <i>will not</i> learn, which is a world of difference from <i>cannot</i> learn.Ilíonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15339406092961816142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-17111271499732876892011-09-28T17:09:32.347-07:002011-09-28T17:09:32.347-07:00"And as much as you and I spar with each othe..."<i>And as much as you and I spar with each other, I strongly suspect we have a lot more in common than I do with the likes of Ilion or Crude.</i>"<br /><br />Indeed, and welcome to one another.Ilíonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15339406092961816142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-71518034830911304572011-09-28T13:39:07.187-07:002011-09-28T13:39:07.187-07:00Hah! And some people on this site say I'm unte...Hah! And some people on this site say I'm unteachable, Take that!<br /><br />(Thanks, One Brow. Expect me to be <i>italicizing</i> like crazy from now on. I might even <b>bold</b> something now and then!)B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-22170828107692155162011-09-28T13:36:01.661-07:002011-09-28T13:36:01.661-07:00All right. One More Time!
italics
No italics.All right. One More Time!<br /><br /><i>italics</i><br />No italics.B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-79120721419833145472011-09-28T13:03:11.865-07:002011-09-28T13:03:11.865-07:00B. Prokop said...
OK, what am I doing wrong?
You ...B. Prokop said...<br /><i>OK, what am I doing wrong?</i><br /><br />You left all the inside quotation marks there. Use just the angle brackets, the letter i, and the slash.<br /><br />For bolding, use b instead fo i.One Browhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11938816242512563561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-6083244527052482712011-09-28T12:14:52.060-07:002011-09-28T12:14:52.060-07:00OK, what am I doing wrong?OK, what am I doing wrong?B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-85431840384013874332011-09-28T12:14:18.891-07:002011-09-28T12:14:18.891-07:00Third times the charm.
<""i"&quo...Third times the charm.<br /><""i""> italics <""/""i""><br />No italics.B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-29584507932097194782011-09-28T12:12:42.929-07:002011-09-28T12:12:42.929-07:00Let's try again.
<""i""...Let's try again.<br /><""i""> italics <""/i""><br />No italics.B. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10584495.post-43651261729771256472011-09-28T12:11:04.416-07:002011-09-28T12:11:04.416-07:00Let me try that.
No italics.
i italics /iLet me try that.<br />No italics.<br />i italics /iB. Prokophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548980245078214688noreply@blogger.com