Although I am in complete disagreement with his Conservative politics, my heart is torn apart for the man himself, who spoke quite frankly on Anderson Coopers show tonight about his disease, and how, as an Atheist, he is sticking to his guns He insists that he will hold fast to his non-beliefs, unless at the very end, the brain-consuming medication turns him into someone his is NOT, out of psychoses and unclear thinking Are there any of you cold, heartless, bloodless Christians who believe he deserves what he is getting, or that he is "reaping what he has sown", as you tend to say?
Answer: Im no fan of Hitchens either, but I hate to see anyone suffer from cancer. Cancer is a non-discriminatory killer, and takes statistically more believers than atheists. Theres simply no reason hed become a believer just because of pain and death - he maintains theres no evidence of gods and unless some shows up before the end, thats the way hell stay
Category: Politics; Date: 2010-08-06
Tell me the funniest thing about Sarah Palin?
and her "notion" of being in national politics....
Answer: "To be hopey-changey or not to be hopey-changey, that is the gotcha question" ~ ShakesPalin
Category: Politics; Date: 2010-08-06
What exactly is the zeitgeist movement?
What are their views on religion, politics, the economy? How did they get started? I would like answers from atheists only please.
Answer: Zeitgeist got started with the documentary film "Zeitgeist" IMDb link below and then the sequel, "Zeitgeist Addendum" 2nd link. They were both made by Peter Joseph, and sparked the movement. The best way to understand the movement is to watch the movies. Theyre pretty interesting. The films basically take you through different facets of modern civilization, and reveal some interesting information about them. I saw the films a while ago back when they came out, but from what I remember, the first film is divided into three parts, one on religion, one on economics, and one on war/government. Theres some interesting investigative reporting done on each, revealing information, possible ulterior motives, and debunking of systems that most people think to be solid institutions. Evidence is shown that popular religions are fallacious, world financial systems are highly flawed, and of course, that governments are run badly and just acquire money for those in power. Same goes for war. The second film focuses mostly on going into depth on the financial aspects, and many interesting things are said there too. The overall problems with the world are summed up as being the disproportionate collection and allocation of energy and resources. A solution is suggested called "The Venus Project", see the third link below for the Wikipedia article. The movies were distributed freely via torrents, mostly, became very popular, and the writer/director started giving interviews and holding rallies. I believe there is even a "Zeitgeist Day" or something. Some of this stuff might sound old and tired when summed up thusly, but the movies are actually pretty interesting, from what I remember, especially to skeptics and atheists. It gives you some food for thought.
Category: Politics; Date: 2010-08-05
Cons, do you agree with John "The Orange" Boehner that cops and teachers are "special interest" groups?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/05/paygo-jobs-doesnt-add-republicans-say/ http://gopleader.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID202169
Answer: wow... they barely passed this one... haha Im starting to wonder if Republicans would fund the military if Obama was for it? theyve already threw 9-11 victims, small business owners, and the unemployed under the bus... now cops and teachers too... lol
Category: Politics; Date: 2010-08-05
Is there much of a difference between irish people and british people?
Without getting into politics or history
Answer: There are a lot of similarities, but the differences are obvious if you spend some time with both. Irish people are free citizens of a Republic mostly but British people are subjects of a monarchy. I think this affects the British relationship with the EU - while Ireland has a very high approval rate of the EU, Britain has quite a low rate. Another difference comes from being on opposite sides of the colonial project. The post colonial legacy in Ireland is manifest in a distrust of authority, and a lack of respect for the rules. This is less the case in Britain. Look up Dara OBriain irish comedian talking about driving in Ireland and the UK. Actually I did already its here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v8YIzoLkStDM There is also a language in Ireland that, while not widely spoken as a first language, is understood by a large amount of the population http://www.youtube.com/watch?vls4MDuBrXSI and youll see the aforementioned Dara OBriain speaking Irish on a British TV show. The cultural similarities are exaggerated by the importing of British TV, Music, Publications etc into the Irish market. This really has more to do with the difference in relative populations 4.5million and 60 million. Heres one last Dara video that may help you http://www.youtube.com/watch?vr4cxzfEuDQs&featurerelated The politics and history are still relevant in terms of peoples attitudes, though, and are difficult to ignore. Similar to Canadas relationship to the US, youd get different answers to the question of differences between people depending on who answers the question.
Category: Politics; Date: 2010-08-05
How does the UK compared to the US?
customs, dating, politics and etc. Which country do you prefer?
Answer: UK Security US Fun
Category: Politics; Date: 2010-08-05
David Cameron and his foriegn political ways.?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10886435 This link includes his common on Pakistan His comment on Iran and its nuclear activity. His comment on Junior partner which i belive most people are angerd about and insulted. What do you make of this and him after the comments he has said. I ment comment
Answer: Now Sparky lets be very clear about this Nerd Cameron, we all knew he would be useless as a Tory and a Prime minister, he is simply in the wrong political party. I call him the turncoat. in many of my answers because of his turn round on the referendum on Europe. He like the dictator potato head Brown is a liar of the first degree and used immigration to get himself into power with promises he cant and has no intention of keeping: the Tory party will reduce immigration quotas to levels of ten years ago thats from 250000 a year down to 50000 a year and thats a lot. His quote on the British people being junior partners in a war that the Americans did not enter until 1941 is insulting and shows that he thinks like the dictator before him that he is beyond reproach. I think it shows Sparky that our politicians have to much power and not enough accountability to the people that put them into power. Anyway Sparky how is your house hunting going, ATB Red
Category: Politics; Date: 2010-08-05
Have you noticed the questions on Y politics seem to get dumber after 3pm PST?
Answer: Yes
Category: Politics; Date: 2010-08-05
Why do so many people object to Gay Marriage, If they legally Marry then?
they must legally divorce, RIGHT More work for divorce lawyers and less lawyers involved in politics? Looks like win win for all, what is your opinion on this much discussed situation? When people get married it is LEGALLY registered at the county courthouse making it a legal marriage.
Answer: lol...not too sure. creating the opportunity for MORE lawyers in this world is not a real good justification though : some are against it b/c of religious reasons. ive heard others that are opposed because it opens the doors for other "non-traditional" marriages, such as polygamy and to a further extent beastiality. not too sure that arguement really holds water or not, but i can see both sides of the arguement. itll go to the supreme court and when it does it will be close. i try to look at it from a anthropological stand point though...and not just talking about gay marriage now...look at all the great empires and compare them to the US right now. regardless of how this particular situation turns out, were heading for something big in this country.
Category: Politics; Date: 2010-08-05
How advanced and deep was the interaction between Ancient Greeks and Ancient Egyptians? What did they share?
The North of Egypt was once part of the Greek World, and they founded the city of Alexandria. Ptolemeus had his giant statue, on the model of the Egyptian Gods? Have Greek Mythology and Egyptian Mythology mixed and interacted, due to the Greek rulers of Egypt? Cleopatra was of Greek origin, right? I also heard that Champollion, the famous French archeologist, managed to decipher the hieroglyphs when he figured out that they had been already translated by the Ancient Greeks...As he knew Ancient Greek, he could, at last, solve the enigma... What was the mutual cultural influence, what knowledge did they share, and how did they change when in contact with each other? Were Greeks and Egyptians somewhat fascinated by each other? We all know the Civilization of Ancient Greece influenced Europe and the World sciences, philosophy, architecture, politics,etc... But does it mean that, also, the modern world has also -undirectly, an Ancient Egyptian heritage? through the Greeks? ps : Ooops, little mistake my English is not very good, sorry I meant "legacy", not "heritage" But does it mean that, also, the modern world has also -undirectly, an Ancient Egyptian LEGACY, through the Greeks?
Answer: Oh, I studied a bit of that in university, but it was quite some time ago... There are a few misconceptions in your question... Alexander founded Alexandria in the 4th century BC, when he conquered Egypt which was... Persian territory since the Persians conquered Egypt about 200 years before that, and thats when Ancient Egypt ended Ptolemeus is a Greek name. Amongst others with the same name Ptolemeus was the Alexanders general who was designed to rule Egypt after Alexanders death 323 BC. The ptolemaic dynasty ruled Egypt as pharaohs even if they were greek until Caesar conquered it and made it a Roman province middle of the 1st century BC, Cleopatra a purely macedonian name being the last pharaoh. But, while Egypt was conquered, of course the local culture didnt disappear neither the Persians nor the Greeks nor the Romans killed all Egyptians to put colonists instead. On the Rosetta stone a document from that time when Greeks ruled Egypt, there are different languages, because the officials, of Greek origin, didnt really like to speak egyptian like the common people. So, to answer your main Q, the only time when the Greeks interacted with ancient Egyptians was the so-called archaic Greek era approx. -620 -- -480. That was before the time when big cities like Sparta and Athens flourished. So just before the Greeks became an important civilization the so-called classical era in the 5th century and 1st half of the 4th century BC. Interactions were quite rare. It would rather be the Greeks who were impressed by Egyptians at the time. I know the example of art. At the time the Greeks copied the Egyptians Greek statues of the archaic era look a lot like the Egyptian statues. A very important point of the Ancient Egypt - Greece interaction is the foundation of Naucratis, a trade town in the Nile delta. It surely stimulated exchanges between Greeks and Ancient Egyptian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naucratis Then the Persians invaded Egypt... So all in all, Egyptians influenced the Greeks first and, a few centuries later, Greeks influenced Egypt.
Category: Politics; Date: 2010-08-05
