(no subject)

[theweaselking]

High-schooler sues school board based on grounds of bias against male students: "The system is designed to the disadvantage of males," Anglin said. "From the elementary level, they establish a philosophy that if you sit down, follow orders, and listen to what they say, you'll do well and get good grades. Men naturally rebel against this."

That's right. He just said that since boys won't follow rules, a system that punishes breaking rules must naturally be biased against boys.

iocaste212 destroys the argument snarkily in a way that I would really have to quote in it's entirely to do it justice. I'll just link to her instead.

Comments

[jasontromm.livejournal.com]

Fixed the link:

http://trommetter.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=ChristianLibertarian

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Christian Libertarians. Let me guess: When Christ said we should help the poor, he really meant we should turn over all the political power over to the wealthy? And when he said "render unto Caesar", he really meant "get involved in politics and render to Caesar only as much as is necessary to build a massive military-industrial complex", right?

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Alright, I haven't even read the damn link, and already I'm uspecting that any combination of "Libertarian" with "massive military-industrial complex" rings false. I'd expect better analysis from you.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

They want to remove pretty much all restraints on business, and tend to see only the military and the police as worthy of government funding, seeing all other government expenditures as theft. What else would such policies create? Whether they say they want it or not, they must be accountable for the inevitable results of their politics.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't the creation of a massive military-industrial complex (MMIC) require that a very large amount of money go to the MMIC, rather than some nebulous amount defined as "enough to sustain it at the current level and protect people from coercion and violence"? I've not gotten the impression that Libertarians would support that, and as a result I'm not sure that such a thing would be a result of their politics instead of something that resembles their politics.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

Do you actually expect the L's to vote for cuts in military spending (read: cuts in the growth of military spending)?

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I don't know enough of them to form an expectation--but to be honest, if I were to form an expectation based on the ones I do know, I'd expect them to vote for cuts in *anything*.

I mean, that Wikipedia entry is the first time I've heard any speaking from a Libertarian point of view express the idea that anything, even enough to keep people safe from coercion and violence, be spent for or imposed.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

> Christians believe the Bible is the Holy, inerrant, infallible Word
> of God.

Three questions:
#1: You didn't use the word "literal". Do you consider it so?
#2: Which version?
#3: Is this your strict and sole definition of the word?

> As far as I’m concerned, the only reason the IRS exists is to
> steal money from me and distribute it to other people who do not
> earn any money, do not contribute to society and never pay any
> taxes.

So, you've taken "taxation is theft" and added "solely to benefit leeches". How do you reconcile this with the existence of a military and the existence of highways and police? Also, how do you reconcile an objection to supporting the poor with with Christ's instructions on the matter?

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

Libertarians, like the Republicans that they, for most part, really are, feel that private charity (read: churches) should replace all welfare, TANF, food stamps, etc.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I realize you're pissed. I understand.

At the same time, can you give the person who's being asked about his personal views a chance to express himself? I'm curious.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. I'll let the individual who shares the political beliefs of the Church of Satan and Ayn Rand Christian Libertarian respond.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

*tips hat* Appreciated.

Tangent: did you know that you should always include commas between all elements of a list? Otherwise you get book dedications that read "To my parents, Ayn Rand and God" which, while amusing, do not exactly communicate the desired information.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

Erm... I know that. Where did I miss it?

[torrain.livejournal.com]

You didn't: it was the combination of "Church of Satan" with "Ayn Rand" that brought the example to mind, and my general willingness to mention an example I find funny that led me to mention it.

I was anecdotizing, not correcting.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay! I can be a bit of a grammar nazi at times (though I'm getting better, and am more of a member of the grammar National Front these days), so I was kind of worried.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I'm aware. I'm just curious about how a Christian reconciles the utter failure of voluntary charity in society, due to nonparticipation and issues of scale and scope, with Jesus' command to treat the poor, helpless, and sick.

[jasontromm.livejournal.com]

1) Did Adam and Eve exist? Yes. Did Noah actually build an ark? Yes. Did Jesus Christ literally die and rise again? Most emphatically yes!

2) I don't care which version as long as it's a translation and not a paraphrase.

There are very few jobs the federal government should be doing. Go all the way back and look at George Washington's cabinet. That's how many federal agencies we should have. We could sustain those agencies and a strong military with tariffs alone. There would be no need for the IRS.

The government should not be in the charity business. Charity is the church's responsibility. Before the Great Depression and the New Deal, churches did all the charity work necessary. That could still be the case if we held to the principle that charity should be a hand up and not a hand out.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

What do you do when the translations contradict each other?

I mean, it's not really relevant to modern social structure, but in the KJV and WSB Revelation 10:6 says there shall be time no longer,[1] while the ASV and BBE Revelation 10:6 say that there will be no more delay or no more waiting. And that's without even getting in to the YLT, where it says that time shall not be yet, which is an entirely different thing.

The first says that time will stop existing; the second says that there will be no more waiting. This seems like a seriously significant difference in the nature of the world, and I don't see how they can both be literally true.
---
[1] Which I think is possibly one of the most profoundly affecting phrases I found when I read through the Bible.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

#1: It's an interesting set of choices there, but it doesn't really address the question of whether or not you believe that the bible is literally true - meaning that every statement in it must be exactly true as written, not allegorical in any way.

#2: So, your page says you're a big fan of Thomas Jefferson. What do you think about his version of the Bible?

And
> Go all the way back and look at George Washington's cabinet.
> That's how many federal agencies we should have.

You don't think anything's changed since Washington?

[jasontromm.livejournal.com]

The Libertarian view is that the government doesn't need to be much bigger than it was when Washington was alive. There's no need for a Department of Education (that should be handled by the states.) There's no need for HUD (again, the states' responsibility.) I could go on an on with a whole alphabet soup of federal agencies that didn't exist in 1789 that shouldn't exist now.