I've never watched it but I don't care for or watch shows about rednecks. I'm glad the patriarch is being suspended from the show for his anti-gay remarks. Much deserved.
Posts by DJS
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41Do You Give A Sh*t About "Duck Dynasty"?
by minimus inwhen i see them on chia pets, i'm thinking--- has the world gone mad?.
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6
My story....
by Come On Out The Waters Fine intell us a little about yourself and your family.. found this form so i decided to post it.
(it will be interesting to re-read this in 10 years).
i'm actually not a total newby to the group.
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DJS
I love your screen name, I'm assuming from "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? Great movie!
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20
Do You Think Anyone Looks Down On People Who Commit "Fornication"?
by minimus ini think only in strict religious circles, is it considered taboo.. does someone's "fornicating" bother you?.
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DJS
"Fornication", like many like it, is a word devised and designed by those trying to control normal human behavior. When civilization was beginning, and clans, tribes, sociieties were trying to attain something approaching 'normal' which could better ensure the economic and social welfare of the majority, such things as unwanted pregnancies, etc. were a large burden on the group. That is the only reason such labels were created.
Sex between consenting adults gives me no concern. It is called normal. Sex outside of an agreement, whether legal (marriage) or otherwise, is unethical unless both parties are ok with it. Then it's no one's business but their own. The sooner ex-JWs can leave behind the label making the better they will feel about the world around them.
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37
Am I missing something here ?
by smiddy inin ancient times , o.t.speak, god dealt with humans in a variety of ways , dreams ,visions ,prophets,and prophetesses , then apparently 2000 years ago he must have said, i`m not doing this anymore.they , my followers will just have to beleive and put faith in what has been written down up untill the 20th century of the common era.
approximately 4000 years of human history where god has communicated with humans .
if you beleive that .. their has been no communication between god , with any human , whether by dreams , visions , or prophets , for the past 2000 years.. and may i add, their has been no communication from jesus during these past 2000 years either, giving us enlightend /updates about his sayings /prophecys that he gave while on earth 2000 years ago.. please explain.. smiddy.
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DJS
Is our elderette hearing voices again? Is she off her medication? The more she talks the less I need to say. I like that. Very efficient.
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American Drone Strike Kills 13 people in a wedding party
by fulltimestudent inif americans want to understand the reservoir of hate for them that is building up against them - then ask how you would feel?.
reference: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21879956-officials-us-drone-strike-kills-13-in-yemen-wedding-convoy?lite.
officials: us drone strike kills 13 in yemen wedding convoyby ahmed al-haj, the associated press.
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DJS
Indiscriminate would not be an appropriate adjective. Read my previous comment. Ill-advised? Maybe. Fraught with potential unintended consequences? Yes. The U.S. and regional leaders typically make great efforts to not be 'indiscriminate.'
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American Drone Strike Kills 13 people in a wedding party
by fulltimestudent inif americans want to understand the reservoir of hate for them that is building up against them - then ask how you would feel?.
reference: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21879956-officials-us-drone-strike-kills-13-in-yemen-wedding-convoy?lite.
officials: us drone strike kills 13 in yemen wedding convoyby ahmed al-haj, the associated press.
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DJS
It is difficult for those we call terrorists to assemble in large numbers in the open, even in their own countries. For obvious reasons. We are watching them continuously with satellites, global hawks and drones and listening as well. And many of those drones carry missiles, and the guy 'pulling the trigger' may be at a computer terminal in Florida. Those we are calling terrorists know this well. They often use wedding parties, which may be real but are often fake, to enable them to gather together. They know this; we know this.
We may at times get it wrong, but if those we - and apparently the Yemeni government in this instance - consider terrorists use this type of gathering then they are placing their own women and children in harm's way. Of course I do not know if this was a legitimate wedding, and neither do any of the rest of us. Is using drone strikes, in conjunction with likely very good intelligence provided by our technologies and the host government(s), acceptable even in light of collateral damage? I don't know. Obama, Bush and the regional leaders who approve these strikes do not do so without some very serious intelligence to support the decisiions. They do not make these decisions lightly or cavalierly. Do they always get it right? Of course not. But the intelligence gathering capabilities of this country would blow your minds. They probably get it 'right', if that is the adjective you wish to select to describe an attack on an actual terrorist gathering cloaked as a wedding, much more often than not.
The Pakistani government routinely 'complained' about the drone strikes in their country but they were working hand-in-hand with the U.S., providing ground intelligence, in support of the attacks. The 'complaints' were nothing more than plausible deniability for local consumption.
I have spent time in the Middle East. The people I came in contact with, for the most part, were very favorable toward Americans. A lot of times the anti-American rhetoric we hear from them doesn't run as deep as we may think. Given the opprotunity many of them would hop on the first boat/plane for the U.S.
Still, I am also troubled by the use of these drones and obviously these attacks carry considerable risk.
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The music that moves you....
by FlyingHighNow inonce when i was profoundly sad for too many days, my brother in law sent us a mix tape.
he named each song after a person in our family.
this is the one he named heather.
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DJS
The Goo Goo Dolls - Name, Iris, Black Baloons, Slide
The Cranberries
Elton John - Goodbye Norma Jean, The Way You Look Tonight, Tiny Dancer, Rocket Man
Macklemore - Same Love
Don Henley - Boys of Summer, End of the Innocence, The Last Worthless Evening
Rod Stewart - Maggie Mae/Reason to Believe
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57
Are Evolution & Morality Mutually Exclusive?
by shadow inthere are a couple of long threads going right now about evolution & abortion.. .
if evolution were true, how could there be any basis for morality?.
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DJS
Just retreat. I don't care where you go. Just go.
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Are Evolution & Morality Mutually Exclusive?
by shadow inthere are a couple of long threads going right now about evolution & abortion.. .
if evolution were true, how could there be any basis for morality?.
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DJS
As I said, I can do this all day long. But it won't matter. Hopefully, as Cofty states, some lurkers will benefit. Use your brains theists; stop letting others do your thinking for you. When you escaped from the Borg, you should have kept moving. So atheists aren't compassionate?
Religious People Less Driven By Compassion Than Are Atheists And Agnostics, Study Says
. By: LiveScience Staff
Published: 05/01/2012 12:11 PM EDT on LiveScience
Atheists and agnostics are more driven by compassion to help others than are highly religious people, a new study finds.
That doesn't mean highly religious people don't give, according to the research to be published in the July 2012 issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. But compassion seems to drive religious people's charitable feelings less than other groups.
"Overall, we find that for less religious people, the strength of their emotional connection to another person is critical to whether they will help that person or not," study co-author and University of California, Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer said in a statement. "The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns."
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By: LiveScience Staff
Published: 05/01/2012 12:11 PM EDT on LiveScience
Atheists and agnostics are more driven by compassion to help others than are highly religious people, a new study finds.
That doesn't mean highly religious people don't give, according to the research to be published in the July 2012 issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. But compassion seems to drive religious people's charitable feelings less than other groups.
"Overall, we find that for less religious people, the strength of their emotional connection to another person is critical to whether they will help that person or not," study co-author and University of California, Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer said in a statement. "The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns."
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57
Are Evolution & Morality Mutually Exclusive?
by shadow inthere are a couple of long threads going right now about evolution & abortion.. .
if evolution were true, how could there be any basis for morality?.
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DJS
Unstop,
You repeat what I hear from theists all of the time. There must be some official anti-atheist canned response and like mindless parrots you repeat the refrains over and over. I suggest you and the other theists conduct some actualy rsearch about how ethics evolved. And why do you give a care what consenting people do? Cheating and lying are not ethical behaviors, and they have nothing to do whatsoever with someone's sexual preferences or habits as long as no one is harmed and there is agreement and consensualtiy. As Cofty points out, it isn't rational to judge gays or lesbians as morally offensive; nor is it rational to judge what straights or bi's do, so long as it is agreed upon and consensual. Really, it isn't complicated.
There are MANY very good studies siggesting atheists or secular peoples and nations are much more ethical than theist and non-secular peoples and natioins. I have referenced several before on this forum. Below is another. I can do this all day long, but it won't matter because it does not appear that any of the theists commenting on this forum actually read anything scientific or think outside of their cherished beliefs. And beliefs are, evolutionarily speaking, right at the bottom of the ladder.
Journal of Religion & Society Volume 7 (2005)
ISSN 1522-5658
Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies
A First Look
Gregory S. Paul, Baltimore, Maryland
Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First Look (2005) (Off Site PDF) by Gregory S. Paul
In this landmark study, Gregory S. Paul compares rates of religiosity and societal dysfunction between 18 democratic nations in the developed world in order to "test whether high rates of belief in and worship of a creator are necessary for high levels of social health." Paul finds that "in almost all regards the highly secular democracies consistently enjoy low rates of societal dysfunction," demonstrating that widespread religious belief does not improve societal health, and that moreover there is a positive correlation between a first-world country's level of religiosity (e.g., the degree of confidence that a traditional monotheistic God exists) and level of social dysfunction (e.g., homicide rates).