Joshua

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't government supposed to protect the people from stuff exactly like this? It seems like the government is instead abusing those it is supposed to be protecting.

Hmm... closing the Vent, huh? Hopefully the new message for it shows what is clearly not accepted in it now. Some of the most interesting topics are most easily found in the Vent, but, no great loss, I figure they'll just be put in General Talk now when they'd have instead have been put in the Vent.

Hmm... fanatical smokers... How is this a good thing? I thought most people opposing cigarette smoking did here so mostly in regards to those who do it where it affects those around them in public places, not the smokers who do so in private. You're right, it would be nice to have more laws regarding cigarette smoking, I'd like to see more banning all smoking in public places with fines and sentences for those who violate the laws. As for the poisons we are unaware of I'm sure if more people knew of them there would be more action against them. We do know about cigarette smoke and its dangers to even non-smokers unfortunate enough to have come into contact with a thoughtless smoker. Just because there are a lot of poisons out there doesn't mean we shouldn't act against the most obvious ones, like smoke from cigarettes and pipes.

So it's all Clinton's fault and Bush's numerous tax cuts for the wealthy and opening US borders for non US workers to compete for jobs has had no negative effects upon the American economy? Also, if you're going to quote me I'd appreciate you quoting things I've actually said. I never used the phrase "evil troops" and said merely that other nations have a bad image of our country due to civilian casualties where our troops were involved. You seem to think I have something against US troops for some reason. I support the troops, I don't support the war, so bring them home! If you're going to quote me please use the quote tags and then reply to what I've said so people can actually see what it was I really said.

Ok, who wants to key the dramatic and suspenseful music that goes along with gun showdowns for old western movies?

How's this? from: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Contention about a new Heavens and a new earth? This is the first time I've heard about it... Seems like it is crystal clear to me... The Bible has been speaking about it for thousands and thousands of years now. Believers doesn't necessarily mean those born again however who have found eternal life, as it says in James 2:19-20, you can believe in one God as do the devils, and it is not enough, without works (and works can never justify) that faith is dead. As for what this thread is about, I simply like to present what the Bible says on all things, I see no reason to apply a different standard to evolution. I'm not trying to change the subject here from evolution but rather enlarge on the subject about evolution by showing forth what the Bible does have to say about evolution (which I believe I already did earlier).

Hmm... how did I miss replying to this topic? I'd been thinking I had for some reason... oh well... Yes, the Bible does say homosexuality is a sin (read Romans chapter 1) and punishable by death. All sin however is guilty of death and what homosexuals need isn't monitoring of their sins since they can never be good enough to reach Heaven just as none of us can, we all fall short of the requirements by God. What they need is to be forgiven of their sins by admitting they are wrong, without which no one will reach the Father-only by Jesus Christ. At the same time, there is no excuse for a Christian to be a homosexual since we are freed from the lusts and sins which once enslaved us to them once we are crucified with Christ and born again. Fornication is the only sin that can be against a Christian's body the temple of the Holy Ghost. As for the Bible being open to interpretation, please show me one thing not involving prophecy and how you think it is open to interpretation. A perfect society would outlaw homosexual marriage but our society is not perfect because its rulers are not perfect, they can't even ensure the right people get put on death row. This is why there will never be a perfect government before Christ comes to govern, a perfect government must have a perfect ruler. Without, you simply have the situation of the Pharisees, those who are sinners also, wanting to stone other sinners. Only God is just, only God can administer justice justly.

I'm not sure how big this monitor is, it's just a normal sized one that came with the Windows XP computer *shrugs* I do use the 1024 X 768, can't stand the bigger 800 X 600, can't see enough stuff on it. Someone in another post suggested computers ruin eyesight, but I needed glasses several years ago... And I didn't even start using computers until 9th grade or so, so they couldn't have affected my vision too much. And my eyesight is still borderline good enough to drive, so... Glasses just give me almost eagle eyesight rather then my slightly below normal eyesight so I can see things most people without glasses can't normally see. Anyway, I've messed around with other resolutions but don't mess around with them too much since the screen can mess up if you go with certain settings.

leiaah, the whole topic was started not over cigarettes as far as health risks to the users, I think most people would agree that's their business. It's those who smoke in public areas and make it other people's business by endangering those around them that people seem to have a problem with. Ruining your life is one thing but endangering the lives of unwilling people around you is an entirely different thing. If you do smoke hopefully you do so away from where people can breathe it in.

Well, I hope with the implementation of that system they've also included a system which alerts users to the dangers to their accounts.

Interesting to hear the oil in Iraq used as a reason to stay, I haven't heard it made an issue before. I think if you present it to the American people as either protecting oil from terrorists or protecting the lives of their loved ones in Iraq there's not going to be many going for the oil. I don't know that the oil is as important as the continuing tarnishing of our nation's image before the world. We're making more and more enemies and getting more and more bad publicity as more Iraqi civilians die in situations involving US soldiers. Some of those mines dropped by planes that Iraqi children got killed by didn't make us look too good either. In the meantime, maybe that pig manure oil processing will come through so the terrorists don't get as much for their oil

https://www.yahoo.com/beauty/tagged/health Recently I read the above article on Yahoo news about how babies are swimming in vats of pollutants before ever being born. A lot of women were utterly shocked to see what was within them, chemicals like PCB's that were banned decades ago, flame retardant chemicals, exhaust fumes, etc... I don't think people truly realize just what is going into their bodies...

I use Windows Media Player primarily but keep Quicktime around because once in a while you'll find something that can't use anything else to run. I really only use a Media Player for music and watching replay videos on MLB.com and it works just fine for those so I don't know why I'd want another media player.

As far as people feeling they can do whatever they want, I saw this comic recently and thought that it actually made a pretty good subtle statement at the attitude people take all too often these days: http://www.gocomics.com/brewsterrockit/2005/07/10/ As for the government, no matter how good a government system is ultimately it relies simply upon the people governing it. I'm sure you have heard many times that we are not a democracy but a democratic republic (if I got that term right). I believe that with our system it only forces those who want to abuse it to do it with even more subtility and cunning then other systems since they have to resort to lies and pulling the wool over the masses to garner enough support to gain power. That's the thing with textbooks, news articles, etc... For all the talk about emphasizing unbiased opinions, actually finding one is a very, very rare thing. Virtually everyone not only has an agenda but it will influence their actions. This includes our politicians. It's almost like America has become so trusting of the government as a whole that it has lost the element of distrust that places perhaps the most crucial part of the system of checks and balances upon the government should it become corrupt. Perhaps also it is a reflection of how corrupt our nation is becoming. Bush publicly lies to the country and no one things anything about it. A president doing that 20 years ago would get impeached and banned from politics. It's as if Americans place a far lower bar on the level of honesty and accountability required by those representing them. We look at all the cops and interrogators and prosecutors and judges who condemn the innocent and abuse the system often simply because they can and are too lazy to do their jobs, and get off with a slap on the wrist, if that. There are people who were about to suffer massive sentences for things they didn't do, and when DNA evidence or something proves they didn't do it, the prosecutors STILL say "We don't have evidence anymore, but we're still sure he was involved somehow" because they don't want to admit they were wrong and suggest they didn't gather evidence properly. There's the saying that all that is needed for evil to win is for good men to stand by and do nothing. Well, there are so few people doing anything about any of the wrong stuff in the world that they have to choose their battles. They have enough trouble trying to cure the wrongs done to people that there are few if any to worry about actually showing the ones doing the wrongs for what they are. And so the judges and prosecutors go on their merry way doing what they feel like and the majority of the American public doesn't care. Those who would've done something or busy worrying about even greater wrongs done to others and trying to help there. I'm saying the percentage of people willing to do anything is getting spread far too thin these days.

While I don't plan on ever getting one, I always thought that this one was pretty cool http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

Of course the obvious trick with dividing the money in the world equally is that you'd probably need to get guys like Bill Gates and Donald Trump to agree to it... How likely do you think that is to happening?

Whafizi, I just saw this after the locked post by the darcy guy (which I know you saw too). Judging by his name and the use of certain british language (effing?) I'm guessing he's one of the young british kids these terrorist groups cater to. I read an article about it recently and how they have these thug groups that will attack people on the streets as an actual ritual, people in their schools, older people, women, children, etc... I recall reading another article about how belief in God is virtually extinct in England as well... I think our country is rapidly heading in that direction as well... thoughts?

Alcohol does distort judgment and if you were to ban it I'm sure you'd see a direct correlation between it and a lack of deaths from drunk driving and possibly crimes of a violent nature as well. That is however that a ban could be successful in preventing the sale and distribution of alcohol. I'd certainly like to see such a ban. However, I don't think it's entirely in the same boat as smoking since with smoking you automatically endanger all in the immediate vicinity whereas alcohol depends on actions you can take after being under the influence of it. Kind of direct vs. indirect, smoking directly attacks all those in the area while alcohol might hurt people indirectly but you're not absolutely exposed to danger unless another event occurs.

20 here, will be 21 in August. I like to go by when I got saved though meaning I'm nearing my 8th birthday I really don't tend to think of the # of years in a person's life as representative necessarily of either wisdom or common sense. One thing I try to do is look at people to see who they really are, age is simply an outward factor used to categorize people but if you can learn to look past it you can see how similar we all are. My Dad told me before that people aren't cows but some live like it, it's just all about getting through life, surviving, they just go through their routines day in and day out. Some people put up facades. He thinks that a lot of times when people get very old they let down those facades and you see more smiles and they act more genuine. He thinks it's easier to see the person inside then for most people. Just an interesting observation to ponder over. You may have noticed that I don't like posting one line answers to topics, however simplistic the answer required may be

Yeah, the US is officially the least popular country in the world, thanks in large part to all the publicity about innocent civilians getting killed by our evil troops in Iraq. If we go and drop a bomb on them even our former allies will band together to destroy us. And America is no longer as dominant a superpower as it was just 10 years ago, thanks to bad handling of the economy as other countries take jobs from US companies happy to give them.

What happened to you is probably what happened to me, I'm guessing. I had around 100 credits with a ton of posts and then accidentally double posted due to a page mess-up. I reported myself and when they deleted the extra post it made me lose 140 credits! I'm working my way back up to 100 posts again but then I've been averaging 11 posts a day for the past 2 weeks or something like that. I worried at first when it happened that my account got suspended for some reason. From what I heard the only thing they can do is reset the credits to 0, perhaps add 20 to your balance or something. Don't worry about it being suspended though, if you have credits and the account is still operational I doubt that's the case. Just get your credits up again and be more careful about double posting. I know I have been

We went in there in Iraq, we have evidence that if he was working on any WMD he probably stopped a good 10 years ago or so. Just because someone doesn't want to let you enter their country does NOT give you an excuse to declare war. I know "innocent until proven guilty" is not a reality here in the US but if it was then it would be a clear shot at that line of reasoning. Yes, Saddam was not a great guy but lying to the American public to start a war is inexcusable, presidents have been impeached for less then that. It seems altogether possible that Saddam hated Hussein's guts and the reason there are so many terrorists there might be not only because of all the people who now hate the US with a vengeance due to a falsely started war based on lies as well as civilian casualties but also because we may have destroyed Iraq's defense against Al-Qaida by destroying Saddam's government. The forces that might once have been used to keep out Al-Qaida may well have not only stopped doing so now but may have chosen to side with Al-Qaida. We are essentially now in an instant replay of Vietnam and our leaders are making the same mistakes they once did.

Gassing isn't the same as having nuclear weapons. Hitler had access to gas chambers, he didn't have access to nuclear devices (fortunately). Also, with the Kurds, didn't the US back them and pull out of it so Saddam had free reign to kill them like that? I seem to recall the US as being responsible for that incident as well. I think the US not only should pull out of Iraq, but needs to. The price not only in money and lives but also in the nation's reputation is growing greater. Recently I read about this guy Feith who's now out of the government (having trouble refinding the article though ) who admits the WMD stuff was overstated but still supports going into Iraq. He said that if the US had just said they were going into to replace an evil dictator the war wouldn't have been able to go through. I think this is the main point where the US erred. Since when is it alright for a US president and the government to mislead the American public? Maybe Bush and the others didn't bother to investigate for themselves the intelligence they were receiving about those WMD but if they were going to march the American nation into a war halfway around the world they should have made sure their reasons for doing so were faultless. If nothing else they have failed in this, their responsibility. Our reasons for going into Iraq were wrong, America barely supported the war even with WMD, and without those I doubt would have allowed such a war. America does not support the war right now, there are more people who want us out then in Iraq. America has shamed itself before the international community and the least it can do, both for the world and for its people is to pull out of Iraq and save as many of its people's lives who are dying for a war started on lies, with as much grace as is still possible.

I don't know, I'm 20 and the only old person who really confuses me is the guy for the Great America commercials LOL

Interesting emphasis on the different uses of the word "blue" I generally like poems that rhyme though, I see you use that one style where you repeat certain words or the ending word for a line is repeated again later on. Too be honest with you, I'm wondering about that one line about releasing yourself to fate and letting go of your destiny. Yet then later on you say you're a slave to your destiny? First you say you give into fate and release your destiny, then you say you're a slave to your destiny? Please explain, I'm confused :PIt's a tad melancholy for my liking as well, when I used to write doom and gloom poems they would also have to do with cataclysmic events or of the future as well, things to come Just different styles I guess. I have some of my poems on Xisto as well, even though they don't count as posts. I've always been very pleased with my poems and how they've turned out, with the exception of this one called Legacy that I wrote for a class and don't like much. Someone on Xisto thought I didn't realize that the poems didn't count as posts, but I already knew and frankly I just think some of my best conveyed and most meaningful messages lie within my poems, rather then the essay-like prose I continually spew out in response to others. As I love sharing my ideas with others through debate I also love doing so through my poetry, it's a medium of communication and one I find even more effective then perhaps any other I could use.