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ramKatori

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Everything posted by ramKatori

  1. I just had to smile at this . There could be worse reasons for believing in Christianity than a pretty Christian woman!
  2. Spitzer now wants to run for Governor of New York state in 2006. I hope enough money is forthcoming for the campaign against him.
  3. Only recently a stylish female colleague commented to me that I should start to buy pants without pleats, and she explained that they were back in fashion. Hmm... I do have a few casual pants without pleats, but I still like my pleated ones... When I was younger I thought pleats were so old fashioned because my dad had some old photos of himself in pleated pants. When they came back in fashion I liked them. I also find them more comfortable. Too bad. Maybe I'll keep my pleated casuals somewhere safe and hope for the best in the years to come.
  4. I searched the web and found that this "werewolf" tale was a satire written by a FOX journalist. It was then mistakenly quoted by Rice and Rumsfeld who thought it was true. Maybe there is more to this. Maybe the FOX journalist was not making something up completely. What "college level history book" has this information? Does anyone know the truth about this? I'm rather curious.
  5. If the marine reacted to a perceived threat or if he reacted "instinctively" in the middle of a battle zone, he deserves credit, not blame. Rumsfeld needs to come out and defend him publically.
  6. Your comment raise a question that interests me more than the original question. It is this: is it possible to give a realistic example of this type of dilemma? Are the only possible examples hypothetical?
  7. I recently wrote a post about a politician whom I consider pretty fascist. While doing so, a questrion occured to me: How private are the identities of people on this forum? For instance, if someone from law enforcement wants to figure out who I am, and if the owner of the forum cooperates, will they be able to get the IP address from which I posted? If so, there is a good chance they can track it back to me, and figure out that "ramKatori" is actually Mr. John Doe. If such an audit trail is retained, my next question is: for how long? Just curious, and a little nervous.
  8. It makes my blood boil to see Mr. Spitzer put Martha Stewart in jail. An evil man, who has learnt a political lesson from Guliani (who did the same things in his time). Almost every day I see the power of these creeps. It is a largely unreported story. Highly moral men -- way more moral than the average -- being destroyed because of weasels in the Guliani / Spitzer tradition. What scares me about people like this is that they do not represent the "left wing" intellectuals. They represent the worst compartment in the compartmentalized minds of "the common man on the street". These are "men of action" (like Ross Perot) who would use a "common man" approach to destroy lives for the "common good". No, give me the transparent and abstract evil of Hillary Clinton any day. Incidentally, it would be a tough fight if Hillary ran against Guliani. The latter is obviously popular. Perhaps he could he swing one of the "blue" states? Hillary might motivate the Christian right to come vote against her, but I doubt she could turn out more of them than turned out this year. On the other hand, she could make some inroads in marginal "red" states. Definitely another close election.
  9. The contrarian in me says that this election might mark the highest point for the Christian right. That means, it is all downhill from here (for them). Here is how this might enfold: Many among the Christian right think that they made the (marginally-critical) difference in this election. When they realize that Bush has been throwing them little scraps of food to ensure he has to do no more, many of them will be disillusioned. If this is all they could get from their 2004 turnout, then why bother. Meanwhile, many democrats also think that they lost the "moral vote". Some democrats will attempt to tackle this at various levels of politics: local, state and federal. At the margin, this will "peel" some "Christian voters" away from the Republicans. P.S. My guess would be that a very center of left Hillary Clinton wins in 2008. PPS. If the Republicans put Rudy Guliani on their ticket, Hillary even gets my vote.
  10. I am looking for a book or web-site that can give me good explanations of certain concepts: Resistance, Inductance, Capacitance, Inductive Reactance. My hobbyist Electronics book does not do a very good job of this. Ideally, the reference give me more than a few paragraphs. It would provide examples that help "chew" the concepts and even to visualize them. Also, ideally, the treatment will be as non-mathematical as possible. Thank you
  11. The play "Murder in the Cathedral" by T.S.Eliot addresses this. Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is presented with 4 temptations. This -- the idea that in doing good one ought not to be seeking to "feel good" about oneself -- is the final, and most difficult temptation for this "holiest of holy" altruist.
  12. Ayn Rand, quoted in "The Art of Fiction", says: "Stories like The Magic Carpet and Cinderella are justified even though the events are metaphysically impossible, because those events are used to project some idea which is rationally applicable to human beings." That's the Objectivist position. For a few more pages on the subject, consult "The Art of Fiction", Chapter 11 Special Forms of Literature".
  13. It is 00:30hrs (Wed) and the networks are being coy, but it seems obvious that Bush has won Florida and has probably won Ohio. The internet betting sites are giving 87:13 odds in favor of Bush. So, he has probably won. If you were a Bush supporter, what would you like to see him do, now that he does not have to worry about re-election. I'm hoping that Kerry was not making it up when he spoke of a "January surprise" on Social Security. I do not think it will happen; but, one can hope.
  14. If I were an evangelical christian, I would vote Democrat. The reasons are simple: the Republicans talk the talk on "important" issues like abortion and gay marriage, but they don't walk the walk. To the extent that they do act, it is ineffectual because the country is not ready to change. Meanwhile, when it comes to christian issues of helping the poor and turning the other cheek the Democrats are true heroes. According to exit polls, over 30% of people who identify themselves as evangelical chritians voted for Kerry. These are the smarter ones.
  15. A recent post got me thinking about whether the Republican party is any closer to the Objectivist viewpoint that the Democratic party. Here is the post: Why not try to infiltrate the Democratic party? I will vote for Bush over Kerry; but I would vote for Kerry over Alan Keyes. By this, I mean to illusrate that the core/"extreme" of either party is equally undesirable. Each party consists of certain hard-core idealogues, and then a whole range of folks who are willing to compromise on their core position to some extent. I see no evidence that the Republican party's compromisers (a.k.a. "moderates") are better than the compromisers of the Democrats. Does anyone here see any evidence that "infiltrating" one party would be better than infiltrating the other. (Not that I think either would be practical.)
  16. I guess that without an initial "spark", a romantic relationship is unlikely. Meeting a person is usually the best way to know if there is a spark. However, something written "from the soul" can be revealing too. Yes, I can imagine reading something by someone and saying "sounds extremely interesting" (a.k.a. "sounds like me").
  17. Easy: Hindus think Krishna actually existed. Similarly, Christians do not think Jesus was a fictional character. Objectivists know that John Galt is fictional. This is a crucial difference. But.... a few (more modern) Hindus do think that Krishna was not a real person, but a fictional hero. Is there a difference between their admiration for Krishna and an Objectivists admiration for John Galt. In one sense, no. Both are types of admiration for fictional characters who epitomize one's values. Ofcourse in the sense of what values are epitomized, there is a huge difference. Still not sure what your point is? Correct me if I am wrong, but you seem to be implying that Objectivists think that Joihn Galt exists in the same sense as traditional Hindus think Krishna exists (or in which traditional Christians think Jesus existsed). Have you really met any such "objectivist"? If so, you will not learn anything about Objectivism from them.
  18. For me there is only one key reason why this election is a hard choice: because there is much to dislike in both candidates. Each candidate will work to deny some of my rights and the rights of someone else. So, I find myself trying to figure out whose evil will be lesser and more delayed. Also, I keep cross-checking that there one really is better than the other, and that I should not simply boycott the election. A minor reason why it is such a hard choice: becaise having gone through the rigor described above, I selected Bush. Then, I found that someone who I believe is pretty rational was very strongly opposed to Bush and in favor of Kerry. That meant a rigorous re-examination of my decision. I am still voting for the religious right (sigh!)
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