(October 30, 2018 at 1:50 pm)Drich Wrote: One thing you guys need to embrace is that the rich reps or 'Dims' are not paying taxes like you are. the only thing happening is the dims are collecting from the bottom of the barrel/the minimum rich people must have in cash to do business and live here, while the bulk of the money made is going off shore, and the reps are collecting from america's wealth, meaning rich people are not afraid to reinvest profit back into the economy put their savings back into american based banks making loans and funding more available for people who otherwise in a bad economy would not get it..

You should be the preacher for trickle-down economics.  Make the rich richer, and they might agree to let some money be taxed in your sorry country!

It's always amusing to see a Christian resort to calling atheists things like douche bags and morons. Christlike sharing of Jesus's love.

(November 8, 2018 at 8:47 pm)HappySkeptic Wrote:

(October 30, 2018 at 1:50 pm)Drich Wrote: One thing you guys need to embrace is that the rich reps or 'Dims' are not paying taxes like you are. the only thing happening is the dims are collecting from the bottom of the barrel/the minimum rich people must have in cash to do business and live here, while the bulk of the money made is going off shore, and the reps are collecting from america's wealth, meaning rich people are not afraid to reinvest profit back into the economy put their savings back into american based banks making loans and funding more available for people who otherwise in a bad economy would not get it..

You should be the preacher for trickle-down economics.  Make the rich richer, and they might agree to let some money be taxed in your sorry country!

and you should take the time to explain how clinton paid on 10.5 million as taxable income when I provided public info that she took in (what she was willing to admit) almost 200 million more!

Again the rich do not pay the taxes middle america does. you can tax the hell out of them and the money just goes further and further off shore supporting other countries and banks...

again if you want to have this discussion I'm looking for why clinton didnot pay taxes on 210 million and paid only on 10.5.

---

(November 8, 2018 at 10:44 pm)Dragonfly Wrote: It's always amusing to see a Christian resort to calling atheists things like douche bags and morons. Christlike sharing of Jesus's love.

Would you rather blind guides? fools? or woe to you( which is the ancient equilevant of God damn you) or maybe you like the sound of a wolf or snake? how about hypocrites? Sons of satan? I could go one.. but Those where Christ's names/titles for those in whom he debated.. pick one if you don't like being referred to as a douche when you say and do douchey things like pretend Jesus was some kinda of hippy that you yourself knows does not exist.. wow what hypocrisy.. to try and hold me to a standard you yourself do not believe in.

"Would you rather blind guides? fools? or woe to you( which is the ancient equilevant of God damn you) or maybe you like the sound of a wolf or snake? how about hypocrites? Sons of satan? I could go one.. but Those where Christ's names/titles for those in whom he debated.. pick one if you don't like being referred to as a douche when you say and do douchey things like pretend Jesus was some kinda of hippy that you yourself knows does not exist.. wow what hypocrisy.. to try and hold me to a standard you yourself do not believe in."

You're the one believing in Magic Boy, not me. I hold you to the standard of what you claim to be: A follower of Jesus Christ. 

Re: Fools
I think it's interesting that the Tanakh (OT) says "The fool hath said in his heart 'there is no god'." Then in Matthew in the Christian NT it says that whoever refers to someone as "you fool" is in danger of hell fire. Then you have Jesus and Paul in the same NT referring to others as fools. Pretty inconsistent, as in "get it together already, god!" Or maybe Jesus was in danger of hell fire and that's why we haven't heard from him for a while? 

(that was sarcasm, which you don't seem to understand). 

So are you saying referring to people here as "douche bags" IS Christlike? I mean, he's your Magic Boy, not mine. I don't have to be a Christian to have read the Bible several times and know what it says about its followers and how they are to behave (even if it's pretty damn inconsistent). If you're trying to recruit others to your cause (a fisher of men, no?), you're not doing a very good job. You might want to drop the fishing net and try your hand at something else.

(November 4, 2018 at 7:12 am)Jehanne Wrote:

(November 4, 2018 at 5:29 am)Mathilda Wrote: That's because the less able you are to differentiate between fiction and reality the easier it is to have faith in a fictional god. It's not just a state of being, they actively work at diminishing their critical thinking skills and to have faith in authority and not ask awkward questions.

The principle of majority rule is not functioning in America at this time.

Lets stop using the term "majority rule". That is misleading when one considers the need in a open society on checks on power.

Our majority isn't a mob rule system, and is why we have our system of independent and co-equal branches of government to act as a check and oversight on the others to insure that a monopoly of power does not arise from any aspect of society, be it political, religious, or class.  That includes the voters too. Our SCOTUS HAS in the past, protected minorities despite the popular beliefs of voters in the past. It is why women can now vote, and why segregation ended, not just because of congressional laws written, but also because of court challenges.

Our idea in the west is not "majority rule", but advise and consent with the ability for an opportunity for the majority to guide, with oversight along with it.

"Rule" is what dictatorships do. It is true with the way our maps have been gerrymandered since Reagan, that our majority has not had the representation it should have. But, part of that inequity is due to our own apathy in local and state and midterm elections. A democracy is only as good as those whom participate in it.

Voters need a check on their power too. If voters always got everything they wanted all the time, women would still not be voting and segregation would not have ended.

Our voting is core part of being a free society sure, but it is not the only part of an open society. Considering what the GOP wants to do to America, it would be unwise to assume voting is the only aspect of an open society. 

Our system is not a dictatorship, it is a system of advise and consent and oversight.  "Majority rule" is an oversimplification and there is more to it than just voting.

(November 10, 2018 at 1:49 am)Dragonfly Wrote: "Would you rather blind guides? fools? or woe to you( which is the ancient equilevant of God damn you) or maybe you like the sound of a wolf or snake? how about hypocrites? Sons of satan? I could go one.. but Those where Christ's names/titles for those in whom he debated.. pick one if you don't like being referred to as a douche when you say and do douchey things like pretend Jesus was some kinda of hippy that you yourself knows does not exist.. wow what hypocrisy.. to try and hold me to a standard you yourself do not believe in."

You're the one believing in Magic Boy, not me. I hold you to the standard of what you claim to be: A follower of Jesus Christ. 

Re: Fools
I think it's interesting that the Tanakh (OT) says "The fool hath said in his heart 'there is no god'." Then in Matthew in the Christian NT it says that whoever refers to someone as "you fool" is in danger of hell fire. Then you have Jesus and Paul in the same NT referring to others as fools. Pretty inconsistent, as in "get it together already, god!" Or maybe Jesus was in danger of hell fire and that's why we haven't heard from him for a while? 

(that was sarcasm, which you don't seem to understand). 

So are you saying referring to people here as "douche bags" IS Christlike? I mean, he's your Magic Boy, not mine. I don't have to be a Christian to have read the Bible several times and know what it says about its followers and how they are to behave (even if it's pretty damn inconsistent). If you're trying to recruit others to your cause (a fisher of men, no?), you're not doing a very good job. You might want to drop the fishing net and try your hand at something else.

Drich's God is separate and distinct from all other Christian Gods and exists only in his imagination.

Quote:This election was lost four and six years ago, not this year. They [Republicans] didn’t start thinking of the old common fellow till just as they started out on the election tour. The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover was an engineer. He knew that water trickles down. Put it uphill and let it go and it will reach the driest little spot. But he didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellows hands. They saved the big banks, but the little ones went up the flue.

Will Rogers

(November 10, 2018 at 12:28 pm)Jörmungandr Wrote:

(November 10, 2018 at 1:49 am)Dragonfly Wrote: "Would you rather blind guides? fools? or woe to you( which is the ancient equilevant of God damn you) or maybe you like the sound of a wolf or snake? how about hypocrites? Sons of satan? I could go one.. but Those where Christ's names/titles for those in whom he debated.. pick one if you don't like being referred to as a douche when you say and do douchey things like pretend Jesus was some kinda of hippy that you yourself knows does not exist.. wow what hypocrisy.. to try and hold me to a standard you yourself do not believe in."

You're the one believing in Magic Boy, not me. I hold you to the standard of what you claim to be: A follower of Jesus Christ. 

Re: Fools
I think it's interesting that the Tanakh (OT) says "The fool hath said in his heart 'there is no god'." Then in Matthew in the Christian NT it says that whoever refers to someone as "you fool" is in danger of hell fire. Then you have Jesus and Paul in the same NT referring to others as fools. Pretty inconsistent, as in "get it together already, god!" Or maybe Jesus was in danger of hell fire and that's why we haven't heard from him for a while? 

(that was sarcasm, which you don't seem to understand). 

So are you saying referring to people here as "douche bags" IS Christlike? I mean, he's your Magic Boy, not mine. I don't have to be a Christian to have read the Bible several times and know what it says about its followers and how they are to behave (even if it's pretty damn inconsistent). If you're trying to recruit others to your cause (a fisher of men, no?), you're not doing a very good job. You might want to drop the fishing net and try your hand at something else.

Drich's God is separate and distinct from all other Christian Gods and exists only in his imagination.

How does existing only in each individual’s imagination distinguish drich’s God from all other Christian gods?

(November 10, 2018 at 12:14 pm)Brian37 Wrote:

(November 4, 2018 at 7:12 am)Jehanne Wrote: The principle of majority rule is not functioning in America at this time.

Lets stop using the term "majority rule". That is misleading when one considers the need in a open society on checks on power.

Our majority isn't a mob rule system, and is why we have our system of independent and co-equal branches of government to act as a check and oversight on the others to insure that a monopoly of power does not arise from any aspect of society, be it political, religious, or class.  That includes the voters too. Our SCOTUS HAS in the past, protected minorities despite the popular beliefs of voters in the past. It is why women can now vote, and why segregation ended, not just because of congressional laws written, but also because of court challenges.

Our idea in the west is not "majority rule", but advise and consent with the ability for an opportunity for the majority to guide, with oversight along with it.

"Rule" is what dictatorships do. It is true with the way our maps have been gerrymandered since Reagan, that our majority has not had the representation it should have. But, part of that inequity is due to our own apathy in local and state and midterm elections. A democracy is only as good as those whom participate in it.

Voters need a check on their power too. If voters always got everything they wanted all the time, women would still not be voting and segregation would not have ended.

Our voting is core part of being a free society sure, but it is not the only part of an open society. Considering what the GOP wants to do to America, it would be unwise to assume voting is the only aspect of an open society. 

Our system is not a dictatorship, it is a system of advise and consent and oversight.  "Majority rule" is an oversimplification and there is more to it than just voting.

Right now, though, the conservative states are "terrorizing" (okay, a bit of a strong term here) the liberal ones, the latter which have the greatest number of human beings in them.  For instance, the conservative state of Wyoming has 2 senators but only 1 House representative.  When the Senate had the filibusterer and blue-chip traditions, the voice of the "majority" could still be represented in the US Senate, but no longer with Trump.  That A-hole needs to go.