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firstpusk

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Everything posted by firstpusk

  1. WHEELIE you have a very shallow understanding of the issues that you discuss. You sound like soundbite journalism or if you will the ancient version a Sophist. You have nothing to add to the scouting program. While you grouse about something that you don't understand, good scouters will help young men become good citizens and leaders for the future.
  2. A skeleton walks into a bar. He says to the bartender, "Gimme a beer and a mop."
  3. WHEELER, You seem to like quotations, so I will give you three. Why would the BSA have a merit badge for Citizenship in the World? No man is an island, entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls it tolls for thee. -- John Donne Concerning your quote barrages, that often show only the mo
  4. Quid pro quo, Buddy, quid pro quo. I have little regard for getting stars. Blame my early Catholic education. I get a kick out of who it is that rates the post. Doesn't take to much imagination to figure out who is giving the thumbs down. Of course, they don't have the imagination, guts or capability to effectively challenge the post you wrote. I think it frustrates them and I feel that is my gift to them.
  5. The French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre was sitting in a cafe when a waitress approached him: "Can I get you something to drink, Monsieur Sartre?" Sartre replied, "Yes, I'd like a cup of coffee with sugar, but no cream". Nodding agreement, the waitress walked off to fill the order and Sartre returned to working. A few minutes later, however, the waitress returned and said, "I'm sorry, Monsieur Sartre, we are all out of cream -- how about with no milk?"
  6. "I think this is a highly intelligent person who is lost and loves to show off his/her/its superior knowledge!" Ed, I think you are being quite charitable on several counts. However, I do agree with you on the lost part.
  7. "I don't want to slay the messenger, but I do expect messengers, especially self-annointed ones to be accurate and precise." No need to worry, he commits intellectual suicide each time he tries to express his ideas. ;^)
  8. Ed, the book is also known as Ecclesiasticus and is one of the deuterocanonical books in the Catholic Bible. The imfamous WHEELIE can't even spell the name of his favorite goldslinger McAlvany correctly. McAlvany is popular in the survivalist community. Looks like he found a kindred soul to quote for his fearful fantasies. BTW, McAlvany, Donald S. (1998). The Y2k Tidal Wave: Year 2000 Economic Survival Phoenix: Western Pacific Publishing Co. can be picked up used on Amazon for 29 cents. When will his publications drop to their actual value - less than the paper on which they are printe
  9. Descartes walks into a caf and sits down ready to order. A waiter comes up to him and asks, "Do you need a menu?" Descartes replies, "I think not," and he disappears!
  10. "Creation is an historical event. It did happen. Creation does not dismiss dinosaurs and the fossil record. All life came from God though. We have the same DNA as animals because God created them all." Creation may not dismiss dinosaurs, if you disregard the inerrancy of Scripture. After all, we have no record of dinosaurs in the Bible. It doesn't explain anything about their existence or their extinction. The discovery of dinosaurs did cause quite a stir in the early 1800's. It did not fit their creationist perspective. Since then, creationism has evolved (pun intended) to try to fit the s
  11. "Philosophy proves the creation story true?" That was the question I asked myself when you wrote, "Philosophy debunks evolution and Philosophy supports Creationism." I'm still wondering where is the beef. "No man has seen quarks but they are there. No man can see atoms but they are there and the very name atom comes from the Greek thinkers, WHO THRU LOGIC, saw that things are made up of smaller units." Yep, and these same ancients came up with evolution "THRU(sic) LOGIC". "Look how philosophy of the Greeks came up with atoms. Not exact but the concept of them." But philosophy can only
  12. "I have to disagree Firstpusk. After discussing creation, Wheeler than stated, "Human reasoning can not know this; only divine revelation, 'revealed' it to us. " Seems to me he acknowledges creation as described in the Bible is not science but faith and cannot be proven. SA" Hey, its a free country, so disagree if you want to. Go back to his initial post. He made claims that he could refute evolution and establish creationism as more scientific using philosophy with one hand tied behind his back. He started this, not me. He has already admitted that species evolved in an e
  13. "I did not descend from an ape nor did I descend from a common ancestor that produced apes and man." Denying reality does not change who your relatives are whether you like it or not. I am an ape you aree an ape and your parents are apes. A recent analysis of chimp and human DNA found it was nearly 99% the same. We are the most intellectually capable animals on earth our close relatives are next. We have a rich history of our anscestors. What were these creatures? How do you explain that they much like us yet the further we go back in time the more ape-like characteristics they hav
  14. "I understand differentiation. I read about the alleles in Scientific America. I understand how species get developed." Actually, I don't think you do understand the development of species. We have evidence of speciation that have been observed. That is why I gave you the link in the first post I wrote. In each case, the evolution of a new species was documented. That IS evolution in action. "When people speak of evolution, they mean land animals crawled out of the sea. And sea animals mysteriously formed out the mud of the earth and the bottom of some lagoon?" That is rathe
  15. "Yet with using Aristotelian philosophy I can completely refute evolution theory. It has nothing to do with religion." Perhaps this is possible, but you would have to figure out what actually is evolution. Your initial post on this subject indicates that you currently lack this understanding. In order to properly apply the Aristotelian method one must correctly categorize the problem. I pointed to a few of the problems in your intitial post. You don't seem to really have an interest in actually learning about evolution. Instead you seek to improperly apply the method of Aristotle to a straw
  16. Philosophy says, Like produces Like. Evolution says dirt, which is dead produced life. How can something dead produce something living? "In fact, evolution can be precisely defined as any change in the frequency of alleles within a gene pool from one generation to the next." - Helena Curtis and N. Sue Barnes, Biology, 5th ed. 1989 Worth Publishers, p.974 Note that the definition of evolutionsays nothing about dead dirt producing life or the origin of life for that matter. Instead, evolution addresses the development and diversity of life over the history of the planet. Speciation happe
  17. North was at the center of policies that promoted torture, terrorism, assassination and mass murder. There is strong evidence that the operation was involved in extensive drug trafficking. For the life of me, I can not understand any scouter supporting this man speaking at a scout function.
  18. Teaching that people believed the world was flat is in no way necessary to teach geography. The ancients proved the earth was round. The educated understood that the world was not flat. The same is true for creationism. I do agree with you that there are children that refuse to accept the theory of evolution. I think it has a lot more to do with the willingness of creationist to promote any lie, regardless how vile if they think it will help their case. The conspiracy theory you mentioned is just such a lie that is wildly asserted by many creationists, even many of the more respectab
  19. "It doesn't really matter if it is a science class or a comparitive cultures class. The teachers are still agents of the government. They are both limited by the exact same constitutional provisions. Therefore if it is legal for one to do it is legal for the other to do. (Though state and local law on curriculum requirments might change that from place to place. I am focusing on the federal constitutional argument.)" I agree let's just focus on the federal arguments. The quote on the lemon test I gave you was from a federal court decision striking down the "balanced treatment" law in the
  20. Those that are seeking to teach creationism or intelligent design do not want it taught in some kind of comparative cultures class. They want to give it equal footing as a scientific explanation for the development of the diversity of life. This position is not a scientific explanation. It is not a theory in the scientific sense of the word, it is a religious belief. I have spent nearly twenty-five years studying this issue. My brother in law brought it to my attention soon after his conversion to a fundamentalist sect. I have been polite with him and other creationists. I have ne
  21. "Evolution on the micro scale can be proven quite easily. However, on the macro scale it has not, and likely can not be proven." Science is tentative. Theories are never proven. They are either accepted, rejected or revised. The macro/micro thing is a long standing creationist ploy. They can't deny that populations change over time in response to their environment. The examples are too numerous and too strong. Instead, they try to say that adaptation is true, but the fruit fly that changed so drastically in the lab is still a fruit fly. They claim that there is some limitation on t
  22. Proud Eagle, I agree that teaching creationism is not going to fly as an official policy. However, it is frequently taught in public school classrooms. I know of several instances where teachers have dismissed evolution and taught creationist arguments to my child. Interestingly enough, it was not in science but in math class. He was coaching the fundamentalist kids on arguments to use in biology class. It is quite common for local preachers or youth ministers to do the same. Parents will also press teachers so that they feel a need to accomodate such beliefs. Teachers that
  23. "It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the external conditions
  24. I read the article from the Post-Dispatch. acco40, I wouldn't feel to bad about this attempt in Missouri. Similar efforts have been made in many states. They lost trying to ban evolution. They lost on creation science and equal time. They have lost all the way to the US Supreme Court - more than once. They now come out with intelligent design a negative argument that could mean space aliens or any supernatural power you want to pick created the world and all the life on it. Don't ask when or how, they won't be pinned down. If they tell you what they actually believe, they have to make
  25. Bats right Throws right Writes right Shoots left (ice hockey) Paddles left
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