Wotan

the Hot Air Healthy Alternative (HAHA)?

Giuliani's wife has "crazy eyes." Very disturbing.

There's maybe one additional point to add here about the "damage" a kid suffers when viewing porno or live sex acts: To the extent he's indifferent to and ignorant of human sexuality (as when very young), the behavior won't much register with or damage him. To the extent he's actively interested and curious (as when approaching adolescence) he won't suffer much damage either -- just be informed, entertained, pleased, and -- yes -- sexually excited. As long as the kid is generally informed that adults doing this are not hurting each other, as it may appear to him, then he won't suffer much IMHO. Just educate him -- before and after the accidental or deliberate viewing -- that sex is both intense and normally private. This should resolve maybe 98% of the problems and potential psychological damage.

Moebius: Rome essentially lasted for two thousand years. It was very politically and militarily powerful -- and even culturally influential -- for most of that time. Maybe they alone -- in the person of Byzantium -- are responsible for the Green Menace being partially defeated. This was Aristotle and Cicero battling for Western civilization. Of course -- they could have done a lot better. Too much Jeruselem, not enough Athens...

Deliberately having sex in front of your kid seems a bit immoral and like an instance of bad parenting to me. But I don't think it's a crime. A lot depends on context. Why did they do it, what way, how is the kid reacting, what is the level of maturity and stability and curiosity of the kid, etc. Overall I think it's best if you 'demonstrate' to your neighbors' kids, and they 'demonstrate' to yours. We all believe in fun and pleasure here, don't we?

Who's #1? Greece in quality. Rome in quantity. Eqypt lasted a long time -- but didn't seem to go anywhere.

I think Aleph answers this question best: But Rand was sui generis. She was a huge philosophical radical and stunning innovator. Still, I call her an Aristotelian. I think Objectivism is ultimately drawn from bits and pieces of the Greeks (Aristotle, Epicurus, the Stoics), the Romans (Cicero, Aurelius), the Enlightenment liberals (Locke, Voltaire, Jefferson), and especially the 1900s Austrian economic thinkers -- who covered so much more than mere economics.

A brave and noble way to go. You should feel quite proud. Hang in there.

I wrote: [Wotan @ Mar 17 2007, 09:38 AM] "All civilizations eventually die. Sooner or later they become fat, lazy, stupid, mean, corrupt, decadent, etc. Then they get conquered -- and sometimes reborn -- by a new civilization with more energy and life. This happened to Eqypt, Persia, Rome, etc. And in many ways Islamdom declined precisely because the West rose." Scholars and intellectuals tend to be very mobile. When Athens prospered around 500 BC, many impressive Greeks from different cities then moved to Athens. Same with Alexandria a few centuries later. Same with Italy in the 1300s. Same with Paris in the early 1900s. Same with America and London today. "Brain draining" and civilizational concentration seems natural and universal. As the time Byzantine Empire and Moslem caliphate began to get sickly and weak -- mostly bereft of new ideas, ambition, hope and energy -- many of their leading thinkers moved to Paris and Western Europe around 1100 for their mini-Renaissance. So did their art and rich people even. This all hastened the decline of those two Roman successors and aided the rise of the new West.

All civilizations eventually die. Sooner or later they become fat, lazy, stupid, mean, corrupt, decadent, etc. Then they get conquered -- and sometimes reborn -- by a new civilization with more energy and life. This happened to Eqypt, Persia, Rome, etc. And in many ways Islamdom declined precisely because the West rose.