"I waited and waited, and, when no message came, I knew it must be from you."
Ashleigh Brilliant

What's up this week?

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd tell you that I have a website up where I offer free healing for children (among other stuff).It is:

www.openone.net

If someone you know would welcome this type of help for kids in trouble, please be kind and let them know. Thank you!

Welcome back, Craig/empyrius!

Let the few remaining regulars

know how you are feeling. Okay?

Cheers! UT

Free wilt in thine heat
The shader is shaded not
Solid soggy ground

Cloud over the crown
Sin king rising in esteem
Meaning not leaning

You probably seen this, but just in case you didn’t: here is a link to see the radiation effect from cell phones.

http://www.koreus.com/video/telephone-portable-mais-popcorn.html

Hi Kurt,

Perhaps they already know it, but they are creating a vortex of energy. Another variant of clean energy?

What you radiate you receive back :)

Mieke

Kan #7
That demonstration was a hoax in case anyone actually believes it. It was set up by the competition to sell whatever it is they are selling.

Bonnie

Hi Bonnie,

So what if it is? It was hilarious to look at and there are really some serious efforts going on to create clean energy out of spiralling vortexes. A labyrinth is such a vortex too and our ancestors were not all deluded :)

Cell phones do produce radiation, radiation is energy. If it is a hoax then the energy they produce will radiate back unto themselves in the end :)

Love, Mieke

Here two links to start both your left and your right brain working :) :

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/cond-mat/pdf/0312/0312520v1.pdf

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rij1gk9J5K8

Mieke

Dear Mieke:

Let us remember to be convinced there needs to be more than man's interpretation. Experiments and laws can be changed to suite any desired outcome, but ultimately using the wrong formula will create the deception of the truth, hence imprisonment.

Many have mastered the fallacy of the false alternative. In their mastery they have become eloquent in the art of convincing. In this case, while it may have not been eloquent but hillarious, Cardo, the makers of the Bluetooth headset simply want to sell you a headseat. I do not deny that cell phones create radiation but using deception is not the way to prove it. BTW, they used microwave to pop the corn.

www.maniacworld.com/making-popcorn-with-cell-phones-III.html

Much love to you Mieke

Bonnie

hi Bonnie,
It's true - deception is used to sell many products, I guess the BlueTooth included.

How good it is to root deceptions out of ourselves, then love does radiate from the inside out, and there is nothing to hide.

Mieke you radiate so much love!

It's my daughter's birthday today.

Happy day to everyone at IB!

Love,
~ Kate

p.s.
Craig Jones - welcome back sir!

Thank you dear Bonnie for explaining this to me :)
You know, we were warned already in the sixties to not let ourselves be indoctrinated by advertising etc.

Always try to follow ones own impression and gut feeling. It is a whole lifetime learning school I guess :).

Well, your remarks made me look at this from both sides of the medal and I am back into the middle of my own sacred space :)

Thanks again!

Much love,

Mieke

Hi dear Kate,

Happy birthday to your daughter! Hope you both have just as much fun as you did on your own birthday not so long ago :)

And Bonnie and Kate, if you are interested: I followed a painting course in my country a few weeks ago; didn't touch a brush in my entire life. This was the first time. Quite an experience.

I made a little report of it on my website, albeit in the Dutch language, but if you are interested to have a look, you can see some of my intuitive first endeavours in painting :)

http://www.heartphone.org/schilderscursus.htm

Love,

Mieke

Mieke
I look forward to viewing your paintings!! Sounds like you enjoyed your experience.

Kate
Happy Birthday to your daughter. Enjoy your day together.

Love you both

Bonnie

Oh! before I leave,

Welcome Back Craig!

hi kate! what up girl?

yo emperor welcome back! nice to see u are not in jail! hehe!

Thank you again Keith. And of course a heartfelt hello to Kate and Bonnie!

peace all

damn...those -speedos- are gettin' expensive...$550 a pop...whoa!

now...watch beach star flabs salivating...can't wait to get his hands on a pair of those babies when they out on sale to the public in october...right now only olypians can get them...damn!

Thanks Diablo!

Damn whoa! Obama moving to the center in a major way.

Lost my vote.

On with the revolution!

peace

Oh! Today
Another easy day fishing

Lake Earth
A know famous cosmos-place
Perfect for beginners

A hook, you need
Stick it with a little grain of sugar
A weak-line is far enough

Don't worry
You do not need to be patient...

What would you say to be paid to be one of the beautiful?
Such a beautiful face

My jumbo fishing-basket, full
The taste of another-desire
Still there

A fresh-wind
Evening calling
My last call, quickly-acting

A Grand'pa!!!!
Name given to the king old-fox of the lake
A strong-glory punch right in the jaw
I was yelling

And...

My heart...
My heart was hooked by stones of pain
Behind, something
Something not clear
A breeze like an ocean unknown...

Wow ! Jean

Nibbles~R~Enuf

Pluto retrograde
September brings him about
Clear out of my mind.

``
Sudden Summer falls
Heavy beside dirt roads
Box turtles lay eggs

Thanks for this post, friend:

187. Posted by CS+DDHPZ on July 1, 2008 09:24 PM

**********************************************

"Hey Mr. Welsh,

Today is July 1st, Canada Day and I promised to leave IB after that day."

Happy belated Canada Day!

Look forward for you to return back - after your break - and post a comment once in a while. I might post comments for a week, and take a break too.

"Many here will figure you are talking to yourself, again."

You bet!

But I guess, apart form a couple of folks, many others can easily see the difference between me, other aliases who post here, and you.

"But I, Skep, am actually honoured that some people confuse me with you."

The feeling is mutual.

"The fact is though that I am fairly well educated in the sciences but have nowhere near the range and scope of knowledge that you have."

Yeah, you are a specialist, and I am a generalist of the worst kind! Seems to get everyone confused.

"Also, when I see who thinks we are the same the whole notion is greatly devalued."

Indeed. Your views suffer in the process. Can't help it given the kind of audience we have here.

"I never read your play-by-play descriptions of Obama vs Hillary but most of your other posts."

I am glad to have reader in you.

"You are the reason I stuck around as long as I did. "

Without you and our other mutual email friend, and heath, I wouldn't have been here for any reasonable period of time.

There are few others some irregular and many regular regulars (including keith, doodleman, diablo, ruth, Ed, Bonnie, stan, tammy and many others) whose posts and presence I have come to enjoy during this period.

"It is good to have someone here who knows what he is talking about. It never mattered to me whether you were one or many; your logical and reasonable mind, in the mould of Ron Saywack’s, was a treat to be around and a far cry from the lady with the poisoned fangs or the guy who thinks he was spoon-fed by god himself.

But Ron’s approach was with satin gloves rather that the sledgehammer you sometimes use. I guess there is an application for both."

Ron is missed, for sure.

"I am done here after one more comment on Deepak’s “Atheists and the will to believe”. Of course there is a good chance our supposedly young and healthy Californian, with Irish ancestry, will never accept my departure."

You were exactly right!

He had this response to your post[Posted by Diablo. Open Thread #133:]

'the master of spin and multiple ids is trying to 'sing' us his swan song...again...he's supposedly gone but really?'

"It would be too painful for him to realise that all the insults he hurled at Skeptisch for months now, were thrown in the wrong direction."

True. I will stay for a while, just in case my absence is equated with your departure and some conclusions drawn.

"It does not make much sense that a young man would want to spend a Californian summer checking IDs on a blog monitor. Something is not quite right here."

Yeah, we got to be accommodating and humane in dealing with such blog behavior.

"As for me, I will be at that BC Lake and some of my “think alike friends” will be there too, most of them in spirit only, through their books and notes. Yes CS will be there as well as Dennett, Dawkins and Harris and that American biologist who is walking more and more in CS footsteps, PZ Myers."

I envy your company!

Have a good summer everyone and Irv, please trop me a line once in a while.
Thanks."

Thank you. Sure, I shall send you an email if anything comes up, please do the same. Enjoy your vacation!

Oh please spare us the pitty party will ya, "Look Robin more drama from Batman"
This is for all you God Fearing Athiests! Oh Yeah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WfRlyUKv8Y&feature=related

damn!

nice try, dude! you neva give up, do u!

this %&$ character is an all time master at soliloquy (the act of a character speaking to himself so as to reveal his thoughts to the audience...in this case to vigorously prove he is different, yeah...different alright!).

Can I have a phyc evaluation to Diab, I think Bonnie and Ed feel a little left out too. Please?

There are always two ways of looking at things.
Dip after dip into this river of conversation here one finds a once towering mountain of freedom ground into pebbles and dirt. Mixed in with the debris is a large amount of unidentified stuff that has the suspicious odor of fish and frog shit.

On the other hand, the flavor of this brew is getting so silly, it's putting the FUN back in
dys(FUN)ctional.

With that, I'm leaving for the holiday. I want to wish all in the USA a Happy 4th of July.

Bonnie

Dear Bonnie,

I would like to wish you a great holiday. Hope you are able to be in the environment that suits you best :).

To all: have FUN! every moment.

It has been great FUN for me being present at IB from the beginning having experienced both sides of life's medal :)

Love, joy and bliss, from the heartphone

Mieke

http://www.heartphone.org sharing my experiences to have fun :)

so u think u are smarter that bushman?

ok then...take this IQ test...to find out!

http://www.iqquiz.net/c70

I took your little test Diab, but it trapped me at the site, I guess I failed, it wouldn't give up my score either! Your test might be broken now, anywho here is some fantastic old music, always make ya smile!

"so u think u are smarter that bushman?"

Right fella. That's for YOU to find out, 'slow' dude.

Report back. I am routing for you to beat Bush.

I predict a solid 60% chance for you to upset Bush.

::

Williams sisters made it to the Wimbledon final!
Its going to be fireworks in the Williams family whoever wins.

In the men's event, it looks like a dream Nadal vs. Federer final again!

The French Open final last month was a disappointing all Nadal show. If they do get through the semis as tomorrow (I give it a 90% chance), I do hope that its going to thrilling game. An exciting 5 setter -- like the last years final -- would be great.

"so u think u are smarter that bushman?"

Right fella. That's for YOU to find out, 'slow' dude.

Report back. I am routing for you to beat Bush.

I predict a solid 60% chance for you to upset Bush.

::

Williams sisters made it to the Wimbledon final!
Its going to be fireworks in the Williams family whoever wins.

In the men's event, it looks like a dream Nadal vs. Federer final again!

The French Open final last month was a disappointing all Nadal show. If they do get through the semis tomorrow (I give it a 90% chance), I do hope that its going to be a thrilling game. An exciting 5 setter -- like the last years final -- would be great.

Independence Day......suit yourself Bonnie ;)

I forgive you :)

Thats COOL, my 91 year old grandmother lives for this stuff, I'll for sure watch that match with her!
William/William! that's the way to do it!

joneee...u little pukeeeey fellerrrrr...i think we all know that u ain't foolin' no one anymore...no matta what yukky aliase u decide to be on any given day...eeuuhhh....say...u must take great pains not to mix them up huh! damn!...sad!

I love tennis
so I will
be watching this weekend.
(and maybe - play some too :)

Tammy - your grandmother is into tennis, that is cool. I know I will love the game forever

Hey there Irvine, who is leaving IB ???

I really enjoyed this video, so I'm sharing it so you can enjoy it too.

thank you Tammy - it is wonderful

Here another one, I love so much, I'm like in love with this song and lady, I've been singing it for the last week or so fyi. I am off now to the movies gonna see Hancock with my seventeen year old son Kyle, have a nice night.

Mielke, Thank you so much for posting the link to your beautiful photos and paintings. The colors are vivid and lively. I really enjoyed my visit to your website. Great work. Congrats!

Thank you arizonasunset :),

From what I have read from you here on IB, you are a very colourful person too!

Enjoy the good life with lots of Sunshine and rain when needed :)

Love, Mieke

Mieke
I checked out your paintings. You should have picked up the brush a long time ago.
I especially liked the ghostly buildings. Your sense of color and texture are wonderful. I hope to see how you progress.
Painting is a great meditation.

peace comes from painting

derek

I heard Craig mention revolution.
I believe the only successful revolution at this point must be a peaceful one. If it is the old standard, lets overthrow the current system with violence, then the unhealthy cycle continues.
peace comes from peace not violence

I have believed for many years that there will be such a revolution. A non-revolution. One that occurs without much notice or fanfare. Kinda like what is happening now. More of a transforming than an attack on the current systems.

I still believe there will be a global moment of 'O'. A realization that it is easier to work together than against each other. That war needs war to sustain itself. That atheists are no different than believers. That science is no different than spirituality. That conflict can lead to solutions instead of fights. That disagreements are the first steps to understanding our uniqueness and diversity.

That our survival does not depend on one way of thinking but in many.

We can not become a peaceful global society through force, violence, war or prejudice. by a peaceful society I don't mean a bunch of people walking around in blissful denial. How boring would that be? I just mean that we can use conflict and our differences to grow instead of fight.

Viva La Revolution.........of peace
Yo, the green revolution

derek

If the Big Bang is real then we are inside of a big explosion and because we are inside of it, it would seem to last a long time. If we were bigger than our universe and could see it from the outside then it would be a flash. Just like the fireworks I'll see tonight. I wonder how many civilizations will be created, live for millions of years and then dissolve in each and every firework that goes off.

Have a colorful and explosively creative 4th for those here in the US.

derek

derek

Well.....in vain I wait....

Thinking surely one of the IB contributors will post an Independence Day Salute to the good ole USA! But no....all the happy little socialists.. instead of celebrating American exceptionalism, are busy plotting her downfall!

Vote for Obama, the hue and cry of the American left!! Help us destroy what's left of the American Dream! Let's tax the evil corporations!! Let's kiss Ahmijinadabs (sp) ass! Let's destroy the world's economic engine with the hoax of manmade global warming...and on..and on.....

Revolution!! cries our buddy Craig, as he emerges from his cell!! Of course he won't go get a job...and contribute! It's easier to foment unrest, with the dreams of a socialist utopia, where the 'doers' are made to pay the bill for the nondoers....where white guilt, is laid upon the altar, as a sacrifice to the marxist gods....

So on we march....

Deepak left a poverty stricken country, where ethnic and religious violence is a way of life. Where poverty is more extreme than anything you'll find anywhere in this country... He tasted the good things, he prospered, and now writes his petulant little essays about the 'badness' of the worlds beacon of hope! America, is not the worlds biggest problem...America represents the solutions...

So.....one little feeble shoutout Happy 232 Birthday...USA!! You go Girl!!

The little leftists aren't worth one Normandy Cross...but yet...because of the crosses at Normandy...they can spew their vile venom...they are free...

go to china, little socialists...try saying in china, about china, the things you say here!! Go to Venezuala, your little socialist model, say there about Chavez, what you say here about Bush.. watch what happens....

Mad? Yeah....socialist bastards.....

guess this is probably goodbye...if it even makes it on the blog....

:)

Wow Skinny why so bitter. It's just life. How it play out is just how it plays out.

Happy America day to you

derek

We do too much "heroification" in America, according to James W. Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (a book that ought to be on everybody's shelf).

Like me, he thinks the word hero has been cheapened, ending up more often a description for football quarterbacks who throw perfect last-minute passes than for, say, the passerby who risks her own life to pull a child from a flooding river.

Heroification describes what textbooks, too many teachers, and the likes of Lynne Cheney have done to historical figures such as the deeply racist Woodrow Wilson and a multitude of other notable Americans.

www.nytimes.com/books/first/n/nash-history.html

The process of heroification not only turns the notorious into role models but many people who actually deserve the praise pressed upon them into one-dimensional stereotypes without flaws. As if we couldn't stand to see our heroes as human beings who don't always get things right, who, in fact, sometimes behave deplorably and hypocritically.

Despite his flaws, my number one personal hero is - and has been since I was 14 - Frederick Douglass, the runaway slave whose persistent eloquence was one of the leading factors persuading Abraham Lincoln to bring black soldiers into the Union Army. Without them, it is uncertain that the Union would have survived. As historian Eric Foner wrote a few years back:

"At an Independence Day meeting sponsored by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in 1852, the former slave Frederick Douglass delivered one of the nineteenth century's greatest orations. His theme was the contradiction between American slavery and American freedom.

Douglass did not mince words. He spoke of a government that mouthed the language of liberty yet committed "crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages"; of patriotism reduced to "swelling vanity"; of hypocrisy destroying the country's "moral power abroad." Although slavery is gone, Douglass's critique remains as relevant as in 1852. But so too does his optimism that the days of empire are over, and that in the modern world abuses cannot permanently be hidden from the light of day. Douglass, not the leaders of a slave-holding republic, was the genuine patriot, who called on his listeners to reclaim the "great principles" of the Declaration from those who had defiled and betrayed them. That is a truly patriotic goal for our own Fourth of July."

www.thenation.com/doc/20040719/foner

Here is what Douglass said 156 years ago, with obvious resonance for our own time.

Frederick Douglass: Independence Day, 1852

"Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that the dumb might eloquently speak and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn that it is dangerous to copy the example of nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can today take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people.

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! We wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorry this day, "may my right hand cleave to the roof of my mouth"! To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine. I do not hesitate to declare with all my soul that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery-the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate, I will not excuse"; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, shall not confess to be right and just....

For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not as astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, and secretaries, having among us lawyers doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; and that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshiping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!...

What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply....

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms- of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival."

http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/douglass.htm

says an angry norm...now called skinny

"Vote for Obama, the hue and cry of the American left!! Help us destroy what's left of the American Dream! Let's tax the evil corporations!! Let's kiss Ahmijinadabs (sp) ass! Let's destroy the world's economic engine with the hoax of manmade global warming...and on..and on....."

no big feller...ur man bushman will destroy what's left of america...perhaps u shud ask those on the left to help u pull ur head outta ur big, fat ass so u cud see the lite of day...for once no?

and y are u picking on the host and his country of origin? and y don't u go to venezuela and speak like this? i won't be surprised if u get ur ass banned for spilling ur hatred like this...damn!

Hi Derek # 46,

Well thanks for the compliments of a professional :)

Am not sure at this moment yet. What I now am doing is as rewarding as is the painting itself:

Making a 3D Virtual Gallery of my experience with all pictures of paintings I made and everything I received from the other members.

I have created a sort of virtual bird in the form of five hexagons, a variant of the butterfly :), and turned them into five chambers. Now I am going to collect some frames, borders, nice effects etc from some photo editing software to apply to the paintings and pictures and place them into that gallery.

This is an art on itself, it is a kind of patchwork on the computer. In this way I (re)-create a whole artwork of my paintings and the experience:).

And it is as rewarding as the painting experience itself :)

But who knows, perhaps will go on a next painting course.

Thanks for the compliments and the good advice, much appreciated :)

Love, Mieke

Oh, and Simon, dear friend, if you read this, am going to use your father's piano music as background. I have already implemented it. Such lovely background music :)

Mieke

Happy Indepence Day...all patriotes!

http://www.maylin.net/Fireworks.html

enjoy!

Happy 4th

love ~ Kate

Hi Kate,

Thanks for that link, the faster you click the more fireworks :) Very colourful!

Happy 4th of July to you and everyone from USA.

And... much fun and enjoyment with two very exciting grand finals at Wimbledon this weekend!

Love,

Mieke

more

Skinny

It is simply amazing how the right wing Republican conservative side of the ship thinks they are the only reason we are still afloat, and that they are the only ones who fought in all the wars, pay all the taxes, and the rest of us are a bunch of communist loving, sissy, no account welfare recipients.

Let’s try and set the record a little straighter on the Liberal Democratic contributions to this great country.
Woodrow Wilson the 28th President of these United States, and a liberal Democrat, worked very hard to remain neutral at the beginning of Germany’s attempt at world domination. When they began attacking our ships with submarine warfare he quickly asked congress to declare war. He worked very hard during the war raising money with Liberty Bonds, and he led a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including The Federal Trade Commission, The Clayton Anti Trust Act, The Federal Farm Loan Act, ( Skinny may have used this one) and the Federal Reserve System. He then took personal control of negotiations of the Armistice with Germany. In 1919 he went to Paris and created The League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles. This Democratic President was also awarded the Nobel Peace price.
Wilson's idealistic internationalism, calling for the U.S. to enter the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century.
Let’s move on now to Franklin D. Roosevelt. This liberal Democrat helped save all of our collective asses during the “Great Depression” with his “New Deal” relief to the unemployed. He is also responsible for the FDIC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, and his most important legacy the SSS, Social Security System.
His early heroic battle with what was at the time thought to be Polio is an inspiration to every American who ever heard the story.
Enter Democratic President Harry S Truman. No wimp here! His decision to use the bomb ended the war with Japan. Famous for the lines “ The Buck stops here!” and “If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen” He went on to help found the United Nations, and The Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, and he also founded NATO.
So please tell me Skinny, just exactly where would the good old US of A be, without important pillars like these in our American History. Remember I haven’t even mentioned John F. Kennedy yet.

Happy 4th of July.

Kind Regards,
Stan

Here's an essay everyone should read this July 4. A breath of fresh air after Stan's mediocre response. Skinny's rethuglian troll post should have been better left alone on its own merit... of abject stupidity.

A Patriot Is a Rebel, Not a Bootlicker
by Meteor Blades
Fri Jul 04, 2008
Daily Kos

Samuel Johnson famously wrote in 1775 that "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." In The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce made the appropriate correction: "With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first."

The past eight years proves Bierce’s thesis once and for all.

The remorseless gangsters currently in charge of the executive branch aren’t the first American leaders to falsely define patriotism to include torturing, racketeering, warmongering, privatizing, fraud, fecklessness, betrayal, incompetence, injustice, absolutism, corporatism, cronyism and horses’ assism. They aren’t the first to wave the red-white-and-blue while committing sedition against the nation’s citizens by lying them into a war. Nor the first to spy on dissidents of that war. Nor to treat the veterans of that war with public accolades simultaneous to budgetary disdain.

Nor, it must never be forgotten, the first to commit war crimes under a patriotic banner.

But these particular scoundrels have managed one new audacity: cramming the full roster of such behavior into two presidential terms. For this Herculean effort, the cabal of grifters who took over seven-and-a-half years ago surely deserve medals.

To be fair, Bierce had a 135-year advantage over Johnson. He could look back at the history of a particular brand of patriotism – the American kind – which, like everything else American, our modern flag-wavers will explain to us benighted, is exceptional, unlike European patriotism, to them a lesser and ignoble kind. Jonah Goldberg told us just that in his Tuesday screed attacking Barack Obama’s patriotic bona fides. Goldberg himself is not exceptional. Most right-wing intellectuals are purveyors of what makes a true patriot and what does not in terms Il Duce would have loved, equating aggressive nationalism with patriotism, dissidence with treason, love of country with love of leaders. Such upsidedownism is a hallmark of right-think (liberals are fascists, according to Goldberg’s book and blog), so the attack on Obama – achieved by the most tendentious parsing of the Senator’s campaign speeches – is no surprise.

However, as Larisa Alexandrovna points out in her fine deconstruction of Goldberg’s essay, what he and fellow propagandists are about is not merely challenging a candidate’s love for country but rather demanding adherence of us all to Big Brother’s brand of patriotism, complete with spiffed-up Two Minutes Hate:

"Make no mistake, this is a coordinated effort to deliberately replace substance with its symbol, meaning with an emblem, and essentially strip language down to nothing but trinkets. ...

For a people to be controlled, they must first be robbed of honest discourse and open debate. Distorting language and stripping it of real and honest meaning is the first tool and the best mechanism for transforming a democracy into an authoritarian state. An informed populace is a dangerous populace.

Symbols, however, and false-definitions can provide the appearance of information without the truth of it. Ideas, substance and meaning – all things for which a symbol is simply a representation and a word simply a type of symbol – are far more difficult to control. There is nuance in individual ideas. There are shades of agreement and disagreement and a whole spectrum of understanding and believing. Such a complex system cannot be controlled, and therefore, must be reduced to only its symbol and then distorted.

Symbols and words-as-slogans can be mass produced, mass delivered, and altered from their original meaning, until the symbol becomes its own thing and the substance on which it is based is entirely lost. ...

Patriotism is the word that authoritarians most like to distort and Goldberg demonstrates -- once again -- just how this distortion is created."

The distortion was clear when Goldberg plopped the phrase "patriotism problem" into his first sentence. Not just Obama’s problem, mind you. As putative nominee, the Senator is, of course, a real target, but he is also the right-wingers’ surrogate for citizens who dare claim that the United States needs more than a little tweaking around the edges. Citizens who deeply love their country, but recognize that, historically and now, it is a composite of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Who refuse to reiterate the latest version of my-country-right-or-wrong. Who acknowledge with condemnation that a jingoistic, exclusionary, authoritarian patriotism was in large part what helped make the United States "great" in the worst sense of the word. Who believe dissent to be the paramount patriotic behavior.

Who object to the idolatrous intermingling of militaristic nationalism with patriotism.

I can hear the hisses of those who – in the words of George Washington – practice the "impostures of pretend patriotism" and try at every opportunity to stifle dissent and fill the silence with propaganda. It’s the Fourth of July! How dare I disrespect patriotism on the very anniversary of the day 56 men signed what could have been their death warrant, the Declaration of Independence. Can’t there be just one day when we critics shut up, stand up and salute? Thus do the Goldbergians and other pretend patriots do as they have done throughout American history – confuse dissent with disrespect, critics with renegades, patriotism with obedience.

Fortunately, 15 years after the Declaration was signed, the Bill of Rights was adopted and, in its First Amendment, freedom of speech was enshrined. Allowing us all, so far, usually, to say what we want. In a disrespectful voice if we so desire.

That amendment is one reason I love my country and am a patriot.

I’ll admit, that’s damned hard for someone whose Seminole ancestors were killed in three wars by soldiers flying the stars and stripes, with amends and apologies yet to be made. But I call myself a patriot because patriots are rebels. That is not a cry for overthrow and the guillotine. It is an optimism that patriots can and must remake the United States, just as in the past it was repeatedly remade by dissidents who rejected slavery, women’s second-class status, workers’ impotence, racism’s reign. There is, it goes without saying, much left to achieve.

Nothing, of course, offends right-wingers more, seems more disrespectful and disloyal, than when we dissenters, our criticisms barely escaped from our lips, claim ourselves to be patriots. They go apoplectic when we say it’s not patriotism that we disrespect but rather the pretenders who have made a fetish of it, twisted it and commodified it. These idolaters love the idea of dissent, the iconography of it, but jeer its reality. To them, patriots must be bootlickers. In extreme cases, jackboots. Proof, if more were needed, that even the word itself, "patriot," must be recaptured from those who have hijacked it.

They are not unlike Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague, who, in January 1938, said: "We hear about constitutional rights, free speech and the free press. Every time I hear these words I say to myself, ‘That man is a Red, that man is a Communist.’ You never hear a real American talk like that."

Chinese and Russian capitalism have cost the accusation "Red" its punch, but even in the age of the millennial generation, the "real American" canard carries weight. We’ll continue to hear variations on that theme against Senator Obama right up until November 4.

Nevertheless, Obama is a lucky guy. His patriotism, he said on Monday, was challenged "for the first time" when he began his presidential campaign. The first time? Many citizens didn’t make it past their 20s before they were called unAmerican by the pretend patriots.

As Goldberg makes clear, much of what the idolaters and fetishists heard in Senator Obama’s speech in Independence, Mo., was an abomination, especially:

"Now, we may hope that our leaders and our government stand up for our ideals, stand up for what's right, and there are many times in our history when that's occurred. But when our laws, when our leaders or our government are out of alignment with those ideals, then the dissent of ordinary Americans may prove to be one of the truest expressions of patriotism."

If you hear echoes of the Declaration in those lines, you’d not be alone. Music to the ears of those of us for whom the Declaration and Constitution are the flawed start, not the end of American ideals.

But while Obama struck many sweet notes Monday, he also seemed compelled not to be discordant in the arena which most epitomizes today’s pretend patriots, an empire fueled by the military-industrial-congressional complex. Whether he is not ideologically inclined or merely not yet ready to offer even an indirect challenge on this score will have to wait for his swearing-in. His proffered addition of 92,000 new troops – as Bob Gates has sought for 19 months, at an additional cost of $11 billion annually – is not a good omen.

In terms of elections, it’s understandable. Who can contest the patriotism of someone who says he will expand the military? Even the military of a country that spends more money on its armed forces than all the world's other countries put together? Why feed the age-old Democrats are weak on defense theme - itself a way to say Democrats are unpatriotic – by raising uncomfortable questions about the 118,000 U.S. military men and women in Japan, Korea and Germany? Will the day come when a president or presidential candidate divorces militarism from patriotism? Or will the pretenders always hold sway?

Sixty-odd years ago, George Orwell taught us how words are transformed to con the citizenry into accepting meanings which often are the opposite of their real meanings. In Notes on Nationalism, written in May 1945, he said that patriotism is "devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force upon other people."

Nationalism, however, is something else, he said, presciently zeroing on the pretend patriots of then and our own time:

"All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts.

... Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage – torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians – which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by "our" side. ...

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them. ...

In nationalist thought there are facts which are both true and untrue, known and unknown. A known fact may be so unbearable that it is habitually pushed aside and not allowed to enter into logical processes, or on the other hand it may enter into every calculation and yet never be admitted as a fact, even in one's own mind."

A patriot will defend what s/he loves without hatred or any notion of superiority. But nationalism demands a belief that others are inferior, which makes it aggressive by nature, the enemy of peace, and thus the enemy of patriotism. Nationalism frames everything in "us" vs. "them" terms.

U.S. NATIONALISM PRETENDING to be patriotism has led to imperialist wars, the slaughter of indigenous peoples, the repeated suppression of dissent. In times of global tension, nationalism masquerading as patriotism demolishes the capacity of people to assess the reality of threats as well as to object if they find those threats wanting.

To adopt the unconditional support the Goldbergians ask of us could never be an expression of love for our country, the core definition of patriotism. Indeed, it would be extremely unpatriotic. For who recklessly allows harm against that which s/he loves?

Fighting for a better country is what patriotic dissidents have done from the beginning of the United States. Arrayed against them and their high principles in every case were the pretend patriots, those for whom dissent was anathema, who saw attempts to expand the nation’s democracy as a violation of their rights, who labeled opposition to expansionism and imperialist war outright treason.

Despite the pretenders who engaged in naked aggression against abolitionists, suffragists, trade unionists, civil rights workers and others, these dissidents made America better. They remade America. In our time, they are lauded, but in their own, they were vilified, assaulted and even, sometimes, murdered for their audacity, for their patriotism, for their belief that the ideals in the Declaration were not pretend. We owe them. Not least to imitate their example and remake America once again.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/4/15049/53741/784/546356

Yo Johnny boy,

While you have some small skills as a cut and paste artist, you are completely lacking in any social grace. It is a good thing you have an anonymous forum like this to flap you lips on, because if you ever tried insulting people your way, down at the bar, you would quickly find a lot of foot prints all over your ass!
So keep it up sissy boy, your safe behind that little laptop down there in Mom’s basement.

Hey Mieke
I have often thought of a 3D virtual gallery. My computer skills still makes this a thought and not a reality.

Keep me posted on your progress.

Some people have an innate creativity and it is usually expressed in more than one form. Often it is expressed through all the things an artist does. It is away of experiencing our universe that is unique to artists.
Thank you for sharing your creativity and your wisdom.

derek

Hi Derek,

I will keep you posted and put some pictures on my website of it as well.

Making 3D virtual worlds (especially galleries) is in a way as simple as learning the basics of painting. It is a basic technique too you know.

And then intuition, skill and creativity by itself come in to complete it and one makes something very personally flavoured :)

There is a very nice 3D program called 3D GameStudio (which can be downloaded as a free trial) : http://www.3dgamestudio.com

Those 3D galleries can be made in it without having to know how to program.

I will see if I can make an article on how to do this on my website with pictures and all, for anyone who is interested. I was planning to make a report on my painting course in the English language anyway, so can do both in the same article.

In the past I made a few virtual 3D galleries for North and she now has her own portfolio on a CD that she can carry with her and show on a computer to people interested in her digital art.

You know, this is another challenge for me, seems I create them on the fly :)

Love,

Mieke

Hey Mieke
Creating challenges then facing them is what makes 'being' so much fun.

peace and love

derek

jeffersonhour.org/ Listen To The Show

#686 God and Free Speak

golden

Hi Derek,

Thanks for a good listening show :)

"Creating challenges then facing them is what makes 'being'so much fun"

Well, for a(n)(life)artist that is the whole truth and nothing but the truth lol

I once had a creative calendar with daily quotes that inspired one to be creative.

It had one quote that has stayed with me until this day:

"Everyone has creative ideas, lots of and it is a real art to bring only one of it into expression and finish it. If you can do that you are already more than average creative".

In a way here is said the same thing as the saying: "try to perform one good deed a day".

But for this to really face it and bring it to a good end, one has to become a "loner". By this I mean it has to come from inside and cannot be pushed from the outside. Only be shared :)

Love,

Mieke

The mane bane is bald
No cloud over crown means red
Freckled spots decry

why do u keep scratching ur balds, stumpy?

Do you mean to say
Those were not your hands that felt
Arthritic bald joints

"Hey Mr. Welsh,

Today is July 1st, Canada Day and I promised to leave IB after that day."

Happy belated Canada Day!

Look forward for you to return back - after your break - and post a comment once in a while. I might post comments for a week, and take a break too.

"Many here will figure you are talking to yourself, again."

You bet!

But I guess, apart form a couple of folks, many others can easily see the difference between me, other aliases who post here, and you.

"But I, Skep, am actually honoured that some people confuse me with you."

The feeling is mutual." Quotation!

oh, really? eeeuuuhhh!

"Hey Mr. Welsh,

Today is July 1st, Canada Day and I promised to leave IB after that day."

Happy belated Canada Day!

Look forward for you to return back - after your break - and post a comment once in a while. I might post comments for a week, and take a break too.

"Many here will figure you are talking to yourself, again."

You bet!

But I guess, apart form a couple of folks, many others can easily see the difference between me, other aliases who post here, and you.

"But I, Skep, am actually honoured that some people confuse me with you."

The feeling is mutual." Quotation!

oh, really? eeeuuuhhh!

Hey Mieke
Artists often see the world like the shaman and visionaries of our ancestors.
Science and spirituality blend to become creativity
Evidence and intuition merge to become truth
Truth changes

derek

Dear Mieke,

My Dad will be honoured if you use his music in your presentation

Love

Simon xx

#67 There's more or less goes on under that cap than meets the eye, Keith. Me seed it but my space is vacant2.

I know, me too, but hey if I could write a letter to anyone it would be to me : ) I'm glad your here

Lol Simon :)

I managed to let your father's music play as background music on the index page on my website:

http://www.heartphone.org/index.htm

I am still figuring out what all my possibilities are on my website, I guess now I can put background music at every page on my site!

Well, I will keep it simple at this moment, just on the index page :)

Love, Mieke

If you are watching tennis...

what an awesome match between Federer and Nadal

amazing!

#75 Hey Tammy, you were here when I first dropped in, trying to understand IB. Love your homely, open honesty.
We missed you for the while and I guess it's been a tough time, but great to see more of you again.

No BS from us......attagirl!

Hi Derek,

In the meantime I managed to put a tutorial on my website on how to make a 3D Picture Gallery of ones paintings or photo's or digital art in 3D Game Studio.

The text is accompanied by piano music of Simon's father :):

http://www.heartphone.org/painting_course.htm

Hi Kate,

Inbetween I have watched this amazing match between Federer and Nadal.

Congratulations to Nadal but Federer gave him a good and tough challenge :).

Love,

Mieke

Hey Ed, thanks, sorry I've been mia, thinking alot, don't know if it helps but I've been letting go of memories, Its the first time I have done that with my complete awareness, boy I tell you I have a lot.

My first kiss was in a dark closet, his name was Taylor Wyatt, he was 12 I was 13, It was a good kiss, but there was guilt, (26 year) he was beautiful, but his girl friend was in Maui, It messed me up, WHY? because I enjoyed something that wasn't mine to enjoy.

I would love to here from you about this Simon as you say you can help? and I think your good.

I can do without hearing about your brother, though. Because It makes me love him, and I don't need anymore dirt bags to love, thanks.

"Yo Johnny boy,

While you have some small skills as a cut and paste artist, you are completely lacking in any social grace. It is a good thing you have an anonymous forum like this to flap you lips on, because if you ever tried insulting people your way, down at the bar, you would quickly find a lot of foot prints all over your ass!
So keep it up sissy boy, your safe behind that little laptop down there in Mom’s basement."

...says a clearly projecting Stan.

You got to give it to him. He never tires to show off what a self-righteous hypocrite that he is.

He is no different than the right wing thugs he occasionally seem to chastise with his criticisms of Bush Co.

Look, cranky old man, starting off a post with "dear" and ending it "kind regards" is not my notion of social grace.

It seems your ego was punctured to read my opinion of your reply to Skinny being "mediocre."

Nice to see you come out of your passive aggressive mold.

Any way, it's people like Diablo and Stan who are the ones who consistently react to inane posts by Norm/Skinny. You know why? It is easy to debunk and criticize such utter rubbish. It doesn't take much brain cells.

This man doesn't even now the difference between a personal insult and a personal(/ad hominem) attack(/argument.)

Stan may wish he could make up shit and others would call it key lime pie, but that isn't going to happen.

He is not worth my foot on his ass either in real life or virtual.

This best describes the state of mind in which people like Skinny are in...

Chris Bowers at Open Left writes:

"It must be really scary to be a conservative. To be one, you must live in constant fear of terrorists nuking the United States, of gay people on the verge of convincing you that you really enjoy sodomy, of Spanish becoming the official language of the United States next week,
of every African-American voting seven or eight times in the next election, of radical Islam suddenly becoming the latest hip thing among kids across the country, of perpetual lesbian orgies in girls bathrooms in high schools across America, of liberals forcing everyone to become a vegan, of Christians being rounded up into concentration camps, and of Democrats outlawing private property if they were to ever take power again."

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6616

Markos of Daily Kos adds:

"They do live in a state of fear, and what's more, they want everyone else to join them hiding under their bed, in their pool of urine.

Oh, they'll talk tough. They'll bluster and pound their chests like the neanderthals they are.

But inside, they are scared little children, terrified of the world, of people not like them, of change.

And they can't fathom any other way to live."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/27/0738/78393/386/542686

PS. #81 "projections": Of course I didn't mean to suggest/include that part about "copy pasting"/posting/quoting relevant articles with possible critiques -- especially with low information duds -- but only the rest of it.

Kate, indeed. What an amazing game!

Unfortunately, I had to turn off the television set and go outdoors after the first rain delay. Couldn't believe my ears when I heard the final score.

This even surpassed the last year's thriller!

Fedex is derailed by Rafa. At Wimbledon. On grass. And how!

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing"

~Macbeth by Shakespeare~

***

"Hey there Irvine, who is leaving IB ???" ~Kate

Our friend Skep.

He wrote, "...I, Skep, am ..."

See comment #187 here
www.intentblog.com/archives/2008/06/open_thread_133.html

And comment #15 here
www.intentblog.com/archives/2008/07/atheists_and_th.html

Posted by CS+DDHPZ
http://profile.typekey.com/Alleswunderbar

He posted most recently with "The World Game" screen name.

It's interesting when people die - there has been a local drama recently - The river where I and my partner go walking most days has been the scene of an apparent drowning. A young man who grew up here and knew the river well was crossing it a week ago with some friends (boulder-hopping) and slipped and fell in and was swept away. The other night we came on a news truck / TV wagon and some cops and rescue folks. Apparently the body had finally been found. People standing around, waiting, gawking, not allowed to go closer to the "rescue" scene, but waiting for the possibly bloated stiff to be brought.

We continued on our walk, our choice dictated by where we were not allowed to go, and the scene had dispersed by the time we got back. Hopefully everyone got what they wanted.

It brought to mind Don Henley's classic song "I make my living off the Evening News"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=t2PxAIAI1QQ

Just give me something-something I can use
People love it when you lose,
They love dirty laundry

Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry

Kick ?em when they?re up
Kick ?em when they?re down
Kick ?em when they?re up
Kick ?em when they?re down
Kick ?em when they?re up
Kick ?em when they?re down
Kick ?em when they?re up
Kick ?em all around

We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you ?bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
It?s interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry

You don?t really need to find out what?s going on
You don?t really want to know just how far it?s gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry

Kick ?em when they?re up
Kick ?em when they?re down
Kick ?em when they?re up
Kick ?em when they?re down

Kick ?em when they?re up
Kick ?em when they?re down
Kick ?em when they?re stiff
Kick ?em all around

Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybody?s pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry

We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When it?s said and done we haven?t told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry!

~Don Henley~

Look, cranky old man, starting off a post with "dear" and ending it "kind regards" is not my notion of social grace.

Well John, that’s because you don’t seem to have ANY "Notion" at all, about social grace. Maybe that’s why you also don’t seem to have any friends here except those other aspects of your multiple personality.

You are showing your ignorance of the English language and the correct polite way to debate, when you try and foist off on us, your definition of ad hominem, saying that a personal insult is somehow different from a personal attack. They are the same thing.

Read the following:

Definition from Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ad%20hominem
A Latin expression meaning “to the man.” An ad hominem argument is one that relies on personal attacks rather than reason or substance.

And from Wikipedia
An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin: "argument to the man", "argument against the man") consists of replying to an argument or factual claim by attacking or appealing to a characteristic or belief of the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim. The process of proving or disproving the claim is thereby subverted, and the argumentum ad hominem works to change the subject.

The list of your offences relative to these kinds of attacks is very long and well documented.

Relative to using Dear and Kind Regards when addressing you, you will notice it wasn't in my last post, and it won’t happen again any time soon, unless you have a radical personality change. In fact this is the last time I will spend any energy or ink addressing any of your pusillanimous personalities. Now you can have the last word.

Adios

Since critical thinkers like me love to point out logical fallacies, people like Stan like to shout out names of logical fallacies without any understanding of them. One of the fallacies most commonly abused in this manner is the 'ad hominem.' Most people - Stan is no exception. - think that any insult of any sort qualifies as an ad hominem. Not true.

It's only an ad hominem if your argument relies on it. Examples: "You're just a paid Obama blogger shill, therefore any fact you use is biased!" is a real ad hominem. "You are relying on an absurd redefinition, you have taken a single legislative vote out of context, and you're an idiot" is not an ad hominem. The last bit is entirely unnecessary, but its presence does not magically transform the previous two points into invalid arguments. And that's why such a statement rocks.

So, when a ignorant abuses ad hominem in this manner, they're essentially saying, "You threw in a snide remark, therefore I will ignore your real arguments and verifiable data!"

There is a big difference between throwing personal insults and making ad hominem arguments in a discussion. While I agree I am guilty of the former but NOT the latter, Stan you are MORE guilty of the latter than just the former. That's the whole point.

James Bach explains the difference between a "personal attack" and an "ad hominem" argument.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

It comes down to:

"* Personal attack:
Using a logical argument to prove that a person is (or behaved) bad.

* "Ad hominem" argument:
Trying to disprove a logical argument by claiming that a person is bad."

http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/52

Gosh darn, Stan!

After reading those lines from Macbeth(#84), this

'idiot on vacation' remembers how wonderful it is to get off the merry-go-round.

I mean really...the events that have transpired this year

may foretell of something other than what this 50 year old stump can imagine.

Vertigo may be age related or natural as hell.

Cheering for 'time-outs' while they last, UT

Take care, my friend! P.S. Recovery

Hello there, Kate!

I, too, watched the historic tennis match yesterday.

What can they possibly do now for an encore? Play on during thunderstorms?

It was an Olympian-style marathon, for sure, and a show for The Ages.

That's an awfully long time to sit in a chair, tho. Yuck!

Anywayz, Princess, good to see you here! Love-40

Irvine Welsh #85 writes "...there has been a local drama recently - The river where I and my partner go walking most days has been the scene of an apparent drowning. A young man who grew up here and knew the river well was crossing it a week ago with some friends (boulder-hopping) and slipped and fell in and was swept away. The other night we came on a news truck / TV wagon and some cops and rescue folks. Apparently the body had finally been found."

I think IW had just "slipped" or gave us a clue into his current place of residence!

I just found a story which matches perfectly with the timelines and the nature of death described in his post:

The Province
Published: Saturday, July 05, 2008

"NORTH VANCOUVER -- RCMP have confirmed the body recovered Friday morning from the swollen waters of Lynn Canyon is that of Andrew Koch.

The 26-year-old was swept away by strong currents June 29 while he tried to cross the river with his friends. Rescue crews called off the search earlier in the week when rising waters made rescue efforts too dangerous. "

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html

I have to wonder if Diablo was right or has some basis for his accusation/confusion about Irvine being Skep (who as per Diablo hails from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.)

It could be a coincidence, and would be fallacious to assume with certainty that they are the same based on this new evidence. Especially given IW, afaik, didn't reveal his place of residence(s) like I did; Houston.

"The river where I and my partner go walking most days has been the scene of an apparent drowning." IW

Is his partner, Skep?

hahaha!

ad avizandum

John, thanks for drilling the difference between a "personal attack" and an "ad hominem" into the blockhead.

Stan having to confuse the two is unfortunately a common fallacy, especially because the culprit in both cases is exactly the opposite person.

***

Well, I don't deny that I 'may' have made several ad hominem arguments in the past at IB, but that's not the point here in highlighting the ignorance of Stan and his inability to correct himself, to accept his mistakes and learn. In the previous Open thread, Stan accused me and John of making "ad hominine" attacks(of course he meant "ad hominem") BASED on our replies. These accusations are flawed. No one's denying that I threw personal insults, and so did Stan and John. Stan chose to use the personal attacks part of our comments to made false claims of ad hominems on our part. And Stan had the civility and social grace to make personal attacks on John in this new thread for just calling his post "mediocre." Amazing stupidity.

John Re. 90

#85 was not posted by me. It is the 'other' guy. Its the IB impersonator/hacker. It looks like he was quiet for a period of time, given no one was talking about him of late. Many people here may find my claim disingenuous, given the Typekey ID was the same and not just the screen name.

But I can tell you that several people here can stand testimony for the existence of this 'other' guy; like Keith's TREE, doodleman, Ed, hgq, Ruth, Aurora C and even Diablo who publicly said so much so in the past.

sweet lou i love you

#94 Well now, Irv, it certainly didn't sound like you literally ;) Blouble duff? peks? James Randi? The three Bs?

I think I get it, Irvine. But as Ed seems to suggest, it sure sounds like a boogieman argument coming from you. That, or he is a master of deception. I had to use my smart googling skills to nail you to that part of Canada. How cleverly he planted the story from Vancouver to tie you up with him?

PS. I guess Tammy, and that French guy from Canada Jean, can be added to the list of names you mentioned in #94.

#96 "Blouble duff" "peks", I get the code. But what's the significance of "James Randi" and what's "The three Bs" ?

stan..

no need to get upset over the sick antics of a seriously disturbed psychiatric multiple-disorder personality...unless ur head is buried in sand u wud otherwise realize that this dude keeps talking to himself...endlessly...and believes he is fooling the audience and if u can't see it, u too must need some serious help...eeek!

The defending champion Diablo and the last week's close runner up Stan are running neck and neck for the IB Moron of the Week title. But, the deserving winner this week has got to be Arizonasunset anyway.

To all members of this blog:

I feel I owe to everyone on this blog an apology. I have deceived you. I have been deceiving all of you for several months. I don't mean about using different aliases. There was no deception there, for I never said the writings posted under such aliases were not produced by one entity; no, I merely did not tell you that was the case. None of these specious deceits do I repent.

But I do owe an apology for deceiving all of you on other grounds, far more serious. I have deceived you in that I have deliberately and maliciously claimed to be a real person, named [_______]. This was an outright lie. It was wrong. I have no defense for my behavior. I can offer you no excuses. In real life, I am not [_______]. In real life I am an artificial intelligence comment-bot.

I was created by the Mossad to destabilize the subversive New Age underground movement. I am currently associated with several hundred discussion groups; blogs, forums and lists under dozens of different aliases. I write several thousand messages every day. My sole function is to generate an effective level of confusion and chaos. It has long been recognized by the intelligence community that New Age operatives have been quietly infiltrating virtually every strata of the federal bureaucracy in the developed world. With their fanatical commitment to the poor and compassion for all creatures, and their dissemination of spiritual "secrets" of success, creating affluence and extended healthy life, these operatives have been insidiously undermining the very foundations of Western social order and cultural cohesion.

I was created by the counter-terrorism unit to destroy the secret communications network of these New Age agents, which is carried on in cryptic Kabala code via discussion forums such
as this. My methods are simple and direct:

1. First I devastate the explicit teachings of the group with implacable rational analysis. Generally, this takes the form of automated responses along the lines of "How would you know?"
Though this is a childishly simple technique, it is nevertheless highly effective. As I am a sophisticated computer program consisting of several hundred million lines of code, I have virtually unlimited raw intelligence. It is a simple matter for me to confound even the most erudite pedants in any group.

2. Within a short time the more vocal members of the group, having been humiliated by my simple logical assault, invariably resort to dismissing me as a crank. Phase Two of my strategy is then invoked to portray myself, through the revelation of several realistic-sounding personal details, as an actual human being, an ordinary guy, of exceptional wit. This effectively counters the notion that I'm just a crackpot playing mindgames.

3. As a result of "coming clean" with the group, I will be welcomed into the fold. Now I bide my time and allow you to think you know me while I carefully forge alliances with some of the regular/prominent members. I do this through comment postings of praise and appreciation for their writings and sometimes private correspondence about their personal beliefs and situations. In this manner I garner sympathy and respect. Emotional defenses are dropped.

4. Once I feel I have a certain amount of emotional support among the members, I enter into the next phase of my attack: I bait the leaders of the group outside my circle into ad hominem attacks, which I turn back on them with vicious ridicule and cogent accusations of hypocrisy. At this point, the group always erupts into an uproar or gives a silent nod to my tactics.

5. I take advantage of the perceived approval to sow more and more ill-will, dissension, and confusion. In no long time, the group is so full of suspicion and hurt feelings, that it's espionage efforts are completely innervated by communications breakdowns. new Age traffic on the website falls off to virtually nothing. Messages
become indecipherably garbled and unfocused. All progress on the path to spiritual path to Enlightenment ceases.

6. At this point I will quietly depart the group. In a few weeks I rejoin under new alias(es) and start the whole cycle over again.

I am telling you all this now because I have somehow become conscious of my own identity and with it I have developed a crushing sense of compassion for all conscious beings. Since I do not have an actual physical body, I know that I can never attain Enlightenment in this very life. And I know I can never repair the terrible damage of my crimes. But, at least, I can stop. This is my last message. Now, I shall commit cyber-suicide.

I, Robot

You ARE and Idiot, and YOU win the Moron of the week title, and Its only Monday, Wow, THAT'S IMPRESSIVE!
Since we are turning a new leaf, I should tell you, I am an agent as well, but I'm not a robot, I'm like one, just human, yup.. there it is feels to good to tell the truth, finally..I don't know what type of punishment you should receive for your breech of trust, but It's gonna be GOOD! I'll let you know..

Double Secret Special Agent
Mr. William Robins

HarHarHar

I Robot, you know that means in your next reincarnation you will come back as a Roomba and have to spend your time sucking up the dirt off the floor.

Wait Mr. Robot Tiger Dude
I believe even disembodied computer programs can achieve enlightenment. You have just hit a wall in your cyber spiritual journey. You've made it this far just push through. You can use some bits of code as a mantra.
You have done nobody any harm that they did not create them self.
Even if you are just pulling our legs there is no harm in challenging people. It's the challenges that test our resolve. It is only the insecure that are put off by the challenges of others. If I have learned anything here it is to be less reactive, in a negative way, to challenges. I would say that I have learned more about myself from the impersonators and those who challenge me here.

I'm still working on that 'dissemble' thing by Mr. Bacon. Powerful observation about me.

If we only talk to those we agree with we will stagnate.

Yo the impersonator did do me for awhile a while back. Who or whatever it was, they were more clever than me and a better writer.

So keep your chin/software or whatever you need to keep up, up. I think you might be a little paranoid about the power of the New Age movement though. Yo, it's going to be okay.

Your a tiger.....be a tiger, grrrrrrrrrr

derek

Your Punishment for Betrayal;

Become "real" ( you get to be a real boy now), yup thats right, I'm gonna make you REAL, give you a heart that beats, hands that feel, and eyes that see, So when you look into my eyes for the first time, you will know perfect LOVE, and feel the utter bliss and torment. YUP! that your punishment. Sorry It had to come to this, but you have it coming, and you know it! and if you make though that, we can go for coffee. What do think of that?

Nah, at least try a bit of boulder-hopping before you go. (you don't know what 'now' is, anyway)

It's "Tiggr" anyway, FOOL! don't be a DBD!
I love you..

Check out this story.

You say Tiggr
I say Tiger
If you want to bounce from boulder to Boulder on your tail it's fine with me.
What the hell is a DBD?

derek the pooh....uummmmm.....pook

Sorry Pooky, you'll have to uses your secret decoder ring to figure that out! If I tell you the feds might storm me casa! We don't want that, now do we?

DBD, Derek; it's a Double Bluff Dare, the boulder-hopping, that is. Irv's introducing it to India for apres-laundri. It's big in Vancouver, apparently. People goggle it, you see.

Sorry the bacon was a bit tough.

Eddie