Liberal assumption:  Conservatives are idiots! Conservative assumption:  Liberals are idiots! Moderate assumption:  Conservatives are half idiots, liberals are half idiots! Libertarian assumption:  Who cares, just leave me alone. My assumption:  We are all simultaneous saints and sinners! Anyone wan...

Everyone that I know who took the test in my state made a 5 out of 5..

One also cannot wish away atheism.  If we all believed and practiced the true message of Christianity, the world would be a better place - no coveting, no murder, no worshiping man instead of God, etc., etc.  However, given that we are all sinners (via imputed sin and actual sin), whether we admit i...

I think it's fascinating that discussions like these usually come down to differing views of human nature. Moda, it seems like you're saying that you disagree with me that our innate desires to be social and cooperative will win out against our greed, violence and barbarism in the absence of some e...

PS, good idea. Thus the statement "compromise is the root of all evil" could mean:  acceptance of standards lower than desired is the source of profound immorality and wickedness (see below) - makes total sense to me, especially when thinking about congressional and executive order output  ;).  comp...

Interesting discussion.  Oh to discover the "God particle" and determine it was described in a book written a couple of thousand years ago.  Read that book and notice how we humans have changed so very little.  Still greedy, still blame everyone and every thing other than ourselves for our misery, s...

Mostly my opinion, some facts: The Good:  The atmosphere smells much better in my locale even though the mortality rate trend is approximately  the same; drinking water is arguably cleaner. The Bad:  The EPA transformed into a bureaucracy interested mainly in its own survival and growth instead of i...

This whole discussion is enlightening and entertaining and educational.  However I sometimes wonder if Alaric is just outside the gates of the empire biding his time, waiting for one final stupid move by the emperor, e.g. tampering with a money generating machine that he and his minions did not unde...

So how about it: What are some of the lowest-stress jobs you can think of, other than professor? And if any of those jobs avoid bureaucracy and status-oriented hierarchy, even better! :) Quietly resting in a casket?  Unless, of course, you were an unbeliever :)  No bureaucracy, no status to be conc...

Anyone know anything about Coursera? https://www.coursera.org/universities And how about iTunes U? I have used iTunes U a lot over the past year or two, probably on the order of 100 hours of video courses.  Love it as I can download and watch on my iPad or iPhone on the airplane.  Makes a coast-to-...

MediumTex wrote:

+ 17 Trillion or so but the picture needs to include a massive closeup of the White House.

http://static2.consumerreportscdn.org/cro/cdn-resources/images/magazine-archive/2010/october/money/car-insurance/ratings/auto-insurance-ratings.jpg From October 2010 Consumer Reports article. http://static2.consumerreportscdn.org/cro/cdn-resources/images/magazine-archive/september-2009/home-garden/h...