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Maximus

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  1. Like
    Maximus got a reaction from ropoctl2 in Osama bin Laden dead   
    According to Islamic doctrine, the later Suras in the Quran abrogate the earlier, peaceful ones. This has been established from early in Islam's history.
  2. Like
    Maximus got a reaction from SapereAude in Free State Initiative   
    Rhodesia was fighting a communist guerrilla insurgy. Your implication that I am somehow a racist is ridiculous. I made no mention of race, but commented on the impossibility, from a military standpoint, of your ability to defend yourself from invasion and destruction, using the example of a well trained military force in the region that failed.

    You have to plan and prepare for the worst case scenario. You are operating on the idea that everything will simply fall into place because you have good intentions. The old saying is that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

    You do what you want, it's your choice, your funeral.
  3. Like
    Maximus got a reaction from aequalsa in Free State Initiative   
    Rhodesia was fighting a communist guerrilla insurgy. Your implication that I am somehow a racist is ridiculous. I made no mention of race, but commented on the impossibility, from a military standpoint, of your ability to defend yourself from invasion and destruction, using the example of a well trained military force in the region that failed.

    You have to plan and prepare for the worst case scenario. You are operating on the idea that everything will simply fall into place because you have good intentions. The old saying is that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

    You do what you want, it's your choice, your funeral.
  4. Like
    Maximus got a reaction from Grames in Government Police on Privately-Owned Roads   
    Okay, first off, don't be a smart ass.



    If you go back to the first page, you will see that I am directly addressing the OP. The thread has already gone off on related tangents.



    Lets examine that, shall we?



    Property can be privately owned, and there can be public roads. Nothing Rand wrote conflicts in principle with a Constitutional Republic, such as we have. Certain powers are given to government, with the consent of the governed. In order to have an orderly society, there has to be a certain amount of give and take between individuals. We can not function if every property owner builds a small piece of roadway, a 1/4 acre at a time, posting arbitrary speed limits, having differing road surfaces, disputing the presence of law enforcement on "their" road. Under our system of federalism, broad powers are retained by the states, counties and municipalities. People are free to own private property, but are not allowed to impede the free flow of traffic and commerce - which would grind a capitalist society to a screeching halt. Capitalism does not equate with public roads. Capitalism is a system of economics based on the principle of a free market.



    The concept of competing governments calls to mind the anarchy that your concept of privately owned roads implies. Let us first examine what Rand had to say about competing governments:



    From this excerpt, one can see that there is a correlation between the two concepts. A system of completely privately owned roads would be just as anarchistic as competing governments.A public road does in no way impede your ability to engage in trade, and may only tangentially interferes with property rights if the road passes through what once was your private property, neither does it keep you from enjoying the fruits of your labor, unless you plan to plant crops in the strip that is occupied by the road, which is ridiculous on the face of it.. Your assertion that I implied that "private property leads to chaos is a red herring, as I implied no such thing. Parking lots and convenience stores do not require traffic rules, mainly because they are low speed, limited access parking areas. No one in his right mind is going to attempt to drive 70 mph in a 7-11's parking lot. Most people have the common sense to follow the established rules of the road even in a parking lot - yielding, driving on the correct side, etc.




    One does not imply the other. Your attempt at reductio ad absurdum is ill used.
  5. Downvote
    Maximus got a reaction from 2046 in Government Police on Privately-Owned Roads   
    Okay, first off, don't be a smart ass.



    If you go back to the first page, you will see that I am directly addressing the OP. The thread has already gone off on related tangents.



    Lets examine that, shall we?



    Property can be privately owned, and there can be public roads. Nothing Rand wrote conflicts in principle with a Constitutional Republic, such as we have. Certain powers are given to government, with the consent of the governed. In order to have an orderly society, there has to be a certain amount of give and take between individuals. We can not function if every property owner builds a small piece of roadway, a 1/4 acre at a time, posting arbitrary speed limits, having differing road surfaces, disputing the presence of law enforcement on "their" road. Under our system of federalism, broad powers are retained by the states, counties and municipalities. People are free to own private property, but are not allowed to impede the free flow of traffic and commerce - which would grind a capitalist society to a screeching halt. Capitalism does not equate with public roads. Capitalism is a system of economics based on the principle of a free market.



    The concept of competing governments calls to mind the anarchy that your concept of privately owned roads implies. Let us first examine what Rand had to say about competing governments:



    From this excerpt, one can see that there is a correlation between the two concepts. A system of completely privately owned roads would be just as anarchistic as competing governments.A public road does in no way impede your ability to engage in trade, and may only tangentially interferes with property rights if the road passes through what once was your private property, neither does it keep you from enjoying the fruits of your labor, unless you plan to plant crops in the strip that is occupied by the road, which is ridiculous on the face of it.. Your assertion that I implied that "private property leads to chaos is a red herring, as I implied no such thing. Parking lots and convenience stores do not require traffic rules, mainly because they are low speed, limited access parking areas. No one in his right mind is going to attempt to drive 70 mph in a 7-11's parking lot. Most people have the common sense to follow the established rules of the road even in a parking lot - yielding, driving on the correct side, etc.




    One does not imply the other. Your attempt at reductio ad absurdum is ill used.
  6. Like
    Maximus reacted to Zip in War Brutality (Warning Disturbing photographs)   
    JayR assuming the incident with the 14 year old boy did in fact occur I would not be surprised in the least. That is not an excuse or any sort of equivocation it is just a fact of war. Saying "war is hell" is really easy but understanding what that means is another thing all together.

    Ever talk to a Vet, I mean get right down into their most vivid and disturbing memories? About how they would get hungry on the battlefield because of the smell of burning human flesh, or about how some of them went through firefights with huge hard on’s in spite of (because of actually) their fear? Ever talk about how when a human body has been very close to the site of a large explosion when the bones have been pulverized by the shock wave that picking up your friend is like picking up a flesh coloured bag of jello with bits and chunks of other stuff inside of it?

    The brutal fact is that war is barbarity in its purest form.

    One commander I know, the first kill that his troops made in Afghanistan was dragged kilometres back to their strongpoint so that everyone in the company could see a real live dead body. Call it cruel, call it abusing the dead but he swore he's do it again because from that act he was able to gauge how his men would react when the time came for them to be on the trigger. He also discovered which of them he could task with picking up the body parts of children after an IED attack and which, if he tasked them, would probably not be of use to anyone for some time later.

    I’m the one who isn’t making any excuses. You want these men, when confronted with what is to most civilized human beings the most terrifying and disturbing events and actions to behave like you do sitting in front of your playstation playing Call Of Duty. Well that just isn’t going to happen.

    We are not about to start nailing babies to telephone poles like the Serbs and Muslims in Bosnia were fond of doing. We western soldiers are for the most part the most professional soldiers in history. We do our best, but there are times when manipulating some dead scumbags jawbone to make him say “Allah sucks big hairy donkey dicks” is the best thing for you, your sanity and the sanity of the troops around you, Geneva convention, regulations and everyday run of the mill civility be damned.
  7. Downvote
    Maximus got a reaction from Myself in Hank Rearden Syndrome   
    Loosen up, enjoy life, have sex, have a drink. None of these things degrade anything. Don't model yourself after abstract characters in a novel.
  8. Downvote
    Maximus reacted to writer1972 in Tattoo Ideas   
    My experience with girls who have nose or facial piercings is that they are trend followers who have no regard for their bodily integrity or their beauty.I wouldn't want them for fear of hepatitis. Same with tattoos. When they get over the trend, they have a hole or scare hanging there, a lasting mark of their foolishness. When I see someone with a ring through their nose, I see a water buffalo just waiting to be lead around. When I see a tattoo on someone, that's all that I see. The person is reduced to their tattoo. To see a woman with Twitty bird on her ankle is not cute. I sense trash. I wouldn't want that for the mother of my children. My thought is that tattoos do not present individuality, but the destruction of self. "I don't want to be scene. I want my tattoo to be scene." Branden talked about visibility as a key to human intimacy. A tattoo eliminates that entirely. Not every Catholic carries a 3 inch cross around their neck to show their devotion. If a dollar sign is too cliche to show your support for capitalism, maybe the McDonald's arch will suit you. Do you get what I mean? There's a difference between a superficiality of holding a person's natural looks against them versus the bias or revulsion towards those who knowingly and by choice foul their natural endowments, usually for the worse.
  9. Like
    Maximus got a reaction from CapitalistSwine in Rand's take on FDR   
    Eisenhower warned us about the dangers of a "military/industrial complex." He has proven correct.
  10. Downvote
    Maximus got a reaction from Myself in Taking Rand's fictional characters too literally   
    Perhaps the error is taking one's self too seriously? I see that in some O'ists.
  11. Like
    Maximus got a reaction from RussK in Is Wikileaks morally right?   
    I've been in third world shit-holes in the military, and, believe me, we're living in relative paradise in the US. I'll take our corrupt over, say, Somalia's corrupt anyday.

    Assninja needs to be drawn, hanged and quartered, along with anyone who aided him.
  12. Downvote
    Maximus got a reaction from Presty7 in Is Wikileaks morally right?   
    I've been in third world shit-holes in the military, and, believe me, we're living in relative paradise in the US. I'll take our corrupt over, say, Somalia's corrupt anyday.

    Assninja needs to be drawn, hanged and quartered, along with anyone who aided him.
  13. Downvote
    Maximus got a reaction from 2046 in Is Wikileaks morally right?   
    I've been in third world shit-holes in the military, and, believe me, we're living in relative paradise in the US. I'll take our corrupt over, say, Somalia's corrupt anyday.

    Assninja needs to be drawn, hanged and quartered, along with anyone who aided him.
  14. Like
    Maximus got a reaction from SapereAude in Why Atheism Will Replace Religion-Nigel Barber, Ph.D   
    The problem is that, as religion has been supplanted by Atheism, it has also been substituted for by the state. Remember that the Soviets were, and the Chinese are, Atheists. It's not necessarily a good thing without sound philosophy.
  15. Like
    Maximus got a reaction from SapereAude in Obama is an Intellectual Midget   
    I have many disagreements with the Republicans, that is not the issue. What I can not understand is how, in good conscience, one can overtly support Marxism/Leninism to the detriment of our republic. I see people giving lip service to the ideal of capitalism, yet voting for an individual bent on destroying what semblance of liberty we still have remaining. Face facts, there is never going to be an ideal Objectivist society in place of what we have now. It would take decades to give Objectivism an equal place in the university philosophy departments, if ever, and the general populace, while already embracing many tenants, are not going to be convinced to become Atheists. I also fail to understand why you and others seem to have such an inordinate fear of religion in general, and Christianity in particular. This nation was founded on principles that originated with Enlightenment thinkers, the majority of whom were people of religious faith. There are fanatics and nut cases in any organization or movement, including this one. But, believe me, the normal religious individual in this country presents no danger whatever to you or to any other Objectivist here. I think it foolish to refuse to support or partner with them and support a philosophy that is anti-man and anti-life like the socialist/communist/progressive agenda that is being promulgated now.

    And this is not a damned straw-man, but the very heart of the matter. We are in greater danger now of losing everything that this nation has stood for since it's inception. I, for one, can not and will not sit idly by and contemplate my philosophical navel while the republic is torn to shreds around me.
  16. Like
    Maximus got a reaction from Rockefeller in Anarchist explains why individualism and natural rights are fallacies   
    Hmmm. I don't know about the rest of you, but as an individual I am most certainly not an "abstraction."
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