brains, wit & toughness is muy sexy.  Come on over to Politics and match wits with the crazies.  Point & laugh.

I used to read/contribute but don't go over there very often now.  I get bored very quickly when threads descend into attacks.  Seems too many people over there have no interest in intelligent debate.  Many are unwilling, or incapable, of expressing their opinions in an assertive rather than aggressive way.

Under Ben Dover's stewardship of the P&R Board, that rarely ever happens these days.

I agree with Carrie, a lot of nittpicking, namecalling, and generally negative mood..
although stimulating at times. makes for good reading, on occasion.

posts dropped by half, and were pretty much limited to mindless ranting at the level of Lyndon LaRouche.  There were no attacks because everybody was channeling the backwoods Fred Phelps.

Moderators need enough brains and communication skills to to be able to reason, cope and control.  You can't put a wacko in the job and expect anything very different.

Life is about sorting out conflicts.  Hopefully, it's at some other level than "you piss me off so much I wish I had a gun - with sulfer-magnesiem (sic) tips".   But if it has to be at that level, we can hope it's not at least pure hot air from blowhards who are too stupid to check wikipedia...

I stopped bothering to read and post on the politics board when it was hijacked by religion.

1) the point is to get a wider variety of people, and

2) eliminate the brittle, thin skinned discussion.

Some people are just too fragile for any disagreement, and there's not much you can do about that.  Others don't have much to say expect spew.  

This is a forum - granted, there's not much to gain, but there's little to lose, too - but the idea here is maybe people will learn it doesn't hurt, (even if somebody calls ya a moron or worse BenD) and the only way you get sharper is to compare notes, match wits, whatever.  At the same time, regulation has to be pretty loose, or it's self-defeating.

IMHO, we can use all the brains we can get, eh?

Huh? BS.  Attack and name-calling is about all there is there, at least from the nuts who dominate one of the spectrum's fringe.

unfortunately, ya can't make it thru life sterile, and I don't know I'd want to anyway...

Hell, if ya can't laugh about somebody telling you to suck a turd, what sense of humor do you have, anyway?

politics is a necessary evil.  Religion is an optional one.

Besides, we like to hear you tell somebody to just bugger off, instead of the same old boring 'suck-a-turd' stuff.

How are the locals looking at Blair & the Iraq thing?

How much of a hassle is the TSA these days?

It's just another boring day in Paradise out here, and we need some changes...

Sorry, but as the inestimable Father Majeske said to Meathead, "I don't waste my time arguing with idiots."

Crusades?  Political, religious - or both?
Witness Christ's crucifixion - political, religious - or both?
Radical Islamic desire to establish Sharia Law throughout the world... religious, political - or both?

Remember government authority, until relatively recent times were seen as a "Divine" right...  Both organizations have some common ground, both have a vested stake in an orderly civilization, both had a vested stake in some predictability as to how civilized people will react under specific conditions and both have transparent expectations of the members of their influence.  

Sooo!  put them together - sure, they are inherently intertwined.

-- Modified on 5/28/2007 2:21:49 PM

ditto to your post Carrie.  He is full of crap on his post as I went over there and wasted my time reading his obvious high school retorical bs.  His posting speaks volumes on his intelligence for sure.  I got bored and put him on ignore.

The core of religion is always some sort of faith, ie, that needs no evidence.   It's totally irrational, and indeed life is irrational, so there's nothing wrong with that.

But you can't talk to a person about whatever they are irrational about.  You cannot negotiate religion.

And politics is about trying to find some way to resolve conflict without blowing people away.  You may want to kill your mother in law, but there is a price for that - you know?  You may not be able to tolerate your lawyer, but he can be damn useful sometimes, you know?

So you have basically 2 choices - if you negotiate, ie in a political democracy, you have to minimize or eliminate irrationality.  You can't have people coming in and saying, "it's against my religion to be deposed on videotape."  (Shit it would be against my religion to pay my bills, too.)

Or, of course, if you can't negotiate, you can always point a gun at people.  The problem is, not many people like that, and they may return the favor as soon as you get busy doing something else.  

So it's pretty economical to have some sort of democracy in the long run, where we can trust people aren't going to go nuts and pull guns because somebody thinks breaking crackers is killing Jesus.

So I think maybe we should get back to what SFer mentioned, that anybody reporting delusions in public, like Pat Robertson, should get a conservator before they hurt somebody.

Waddya think?

Different strokes for different folks, but this discussion looks a lot like why I stopped reading the P&R board (after 1 try).
 In just this short stream I have seem attacks on the personalities of others and posts by "leave of absence" hobbyists who freely admit to stealing from providers. I am really not interested in participating in that kind of board
Some folks like it.  Some don't.
B

-- Modified on 5/28/2007 3:26:28 PM

-- Modified on 5/28/2007 3:31:01 PM

as described

In the real world, that would be defamation.

Do you want to explain yourself?  I think you should.

and we can add Ted Haggard and a few dozen others; and some of those folks may be lurking, and those that aren't, probably should be...

And you have my permission to quote me if they show up and I'm gone...Tell them, "Jack told me to tell you..."

Jack,

Do a search of this board about a month or so ago. Look for a post by X-lover titled "Taking back the donation - is it justified"

No defamation here. He freely admits stealing from her, and goes on to rationalize and justify his choice, while attacking me for requesting that the review of his abuse be removed.

that went over my head, and since a lot of people don't come out & say what they mean, I thought somebody was jumping to conclusions in MY direction.

It happens, but as I get older and older, I learn to ask, 'WTF do you mean?'

Thanks again

Welcome to Jack0's world...  in it, you have no rights, or right or right.  in fact, all fact is according to him.  And according to him, there are no rules that need be followed as we are all too dumb to be able to comprehend even the simplist of rules...   Get it?  good!  

And now, we will return to your usual evening programing!  Enjoy!

words are what prevent fistfights.  And a good thing, too.

...I checked it out.  And as suspected, it's totally LAME!  Which actually prompts a question:  Ladies which is the LEAST LAME of all the TER Boards?  (And, I don't want you to even consider the "Providers' Only" Board.)  And why?
Now, which IS the LAMEST?  I've got my suspicions...
Thanks