OFF TOPIC - The IOC sucks.

[ZeroAdunn]

Sorry, double post, oh ya, one more thing:

Come on people now, smile on your brother everybody get together gotta love one another right now.

[This message has been edited by ZeroAdunn (edited 23 July 2001).]

[Phoenix-D]

FYI you can delete Posts. Same screen as the edit button.

Anyway- communism as a perfect government: perfect governments have to work. Communism..doesn't. Human nature, really.

Phoenix-D

[CW]

quote:

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Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Anyway- communism as a perfect government: perfect governments have to work. Communism..doesn't. Human nature, really.

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Quite true. Communism is just like the idealised calculations in physics and chemistry... great for theoretical studies but doesn't really work out in real life. I guess Marx forgot that humans are humans afterall.


[This message has been edited by CW (edited 23 July 2001).]

[parwez]

quote:

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Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Every single attempt to do that so far has had the result of creating masses of rules (so you need a laywer and MORE money), limiting free expresion, and gennerally making the "interest Groups" with money more powerful.

Phoenix-D

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Actually all you need is a law that says senators can't serve more than one term in their life. That will stop it being a career option, force big businesses to spread there money futher.

or better yet treat it like jury service.
(possibility for insider dealing exists here)

[CaptSpoogy]

Dragonlord - They make it easy for you if you're American coming here. But if you're from the UK, it should be pretty easy as well...

[capnq]

quote:

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china opporated mostly without organized religion and government for a long time.

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China has had some form of centralized government since the Shang Dynasty in 1600 BC. No culture on Earth has ever advanced beyond clan-based tribalism without some form of government.

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[dmm]

quote:

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"The love of money is the root of all evil." --Lord Acton (I remember that one!)

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Actually, it predates Lord Acton by a couple of years. "For the love of money is the root of all evil..."--St. Paul, First Epistle to Timothy
[/quote]

Actually, the first quote IS from Lord Acton, who was misquoting Paul. The "corrected" quote is also a misquote. The correct quote, in context, is
"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many griefs."
Note that the problem is not money, or even riches, but greed, coveting, and pride. Paul then proceeds to give apostolic commands for Timothy to pass along to the wealthy:
"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share."

That is "Christian communalism": From each, willingly, as an act of love and mercy (and also to gain eternal rewards -- God knows human nature!), according to how God has blessed; To each, according to his/her need (not want), as determined by individuals or by a local fellowship of people who know and love him/her and want the long-term best for him/her.

In practice, this is not an easy thing to achieve. Liberals err by trying to force everyone to "be nice" to everyone, regardless of circumstances or merit. Conservatives err by assuming that people will automatically "be nice" if only the government will stay out of it.

P.S. Regarding China and the Olympics: No one seems to remember that Moscow was awarded the Olympics during the Cold War, and the U.S. would have gone if it had not been for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. I wonder if the Afghanis took comfort from that while they were being sprayed with nerve gas from helicopters? Or do you suppose that maybe the CIA-supplied Stingers they got later on were more of a comfort?