A special message from the Department of Troll Control, come and get it!

Fellow Americans, there comes a time every mans life when we must give up ourselves before we are worthy to recieve. There comes a time in this war on terror when in order to protect liberty, we have to give it up in the mean time for safty. That's right folks. Today, Americans have forsaken the creator for the creation and have decided that they would value our "civil liberties" than protecting western civilization and rich white people from the tender mercies of radical Islamic terrorists. Selfish liberals insist and whine that Bush has no right to spy on Americans and ban certain undesirables from using our airlines. They demand the right to criticize and blaspheeme the name of our supreme commander and cheef George W Bush while forcing multiculturalism down our throats and praising Bill Clinton. We all know however that it's totally Clintons fult for everything bad in america. Now we are at war and we must make a decision. support the safty of America and defeat terrorists, or support civil liberties and give victory to the enemy. Its all because of Bill Clinton and civil liberties that we are in this war so it is only fair that we give it up. no one said life was supposed to be fair you liberal crybabys. Dont give me that rubbish about equality and diversity. WE ARE AT WAR! If your not for Bush and against civil liberties your a terrorist! Your probably even a Communist and should be detained. Therefore fellow Americans we must throw all of our trust and resources behind George W Bush and behind this war with no ifs ands or buts. Be sure to report any and all detractors and freedom supporters to your local military and never question. Bush knows what hes doing and we will win this war once and for all. Thank you and May God bless America.

>> ...stop and smell the flowers on the way to Mars.
Hmmm. What DOES the Rose Nebula "smell" like?

Here's another phenomenon that's fun to observe:
Scrupulously avoid initiating a crevo debate, but talk about the human behavior you observed during one. Take no side, make no definitive statement on the subject of crevo itself, but talk plenty about the characteristics of the discussion. As you describe the discussion, observe your audience. Who has beads of sweat standing out on their forehead? Who is white-knuckling their drinking glass? Who stepped away? Who'll be first to change the subject?

YOU'RE there discussing human behavior in the context of a contentious debate, but, in a little psychological experiment of your own, by mentioning that it was a "crevo" discussion, you've tapped into everyone's anxiety about crevo and brought it to the fore such that they can't engage the human behavior discussion with any degree of comfort. There is near-palpable fear that the discussion might actually jump the fence from human behavior in a crevo debate to crevo itself.

"Una remera" is a t-shirt. I had it with the correct accets, originally, but the way taglines get posted boogers that up, so it's unaccented, now.

Check this out:
http://sternfels.blogspot.com/2005/07/tengo-una-remera-del-che-y-no-s-por-qu.html

Hi everyone. I successfully defended my dissertation proposal this afternoon. Now I get to start collecting data.

Great news, so how do you propose to gather data on the effects of future taxation on the movie industry after Brokeback Mountain?

"What DOES the Rose Nebula "smell" like?"

It smells like ... victory!

Hmm. Your analysis seems almost like a physics experiment. A change of position is motion; a change in the rate of change of position is acceleration. I guess you have to be pretty cold and calculating to be able to observe such phenomena without getting caught up in the discussion.

Crevo discussions seem worse than pointless. Nobody ever changes their mind, or anyone else's mind. It's like a philosophical discussion about whether water is wet.

We exist, and we change. Both viewpoints are true, and both are limited.

"The hat on your head is green!'

"You're an idiot! Anyone with eyes can see that the hat on your head is blue!"

And so goes the argument. What's the point?

Well, see the one leg goes like this, and the other leg goes like that.

Then you draw the hyppopotamus between them with the red pen, and that there is your proof. The Pythagnoramus Theorem!

All you gotta do is connect the dots.

Crevo discussions seem worse than pointless.

I'd qualify that by rephrasing it like this: Crevo discussions between more than two people are worse than pointless.

I've actually had some really great discussion on the subject with people whose views were opposite my own, but only with one other person at a time. There's a dynamic present in a discussion between two participants that evaporates exponentially as additional parties join in. I observe this to some degree in all discussions, but find it is more pronounced when the subject is more contentious.

When there are more than two people involved, I think you're right; engaging the discussion is a pointless exercise in doing unhealthy things to one's blood pressure and irreparably damaging otherwise serviceable personal relationships. Besides there are more interesting ways to observe people in uncomfortable situations. Try getting on a crowded elevator and NOT turning around to face the doors.

So, I'm happy to have the UT. At least HERE I know that when the doors close all occupants of the car will dutifully turn and present the backs of their heads; bad hair day or not.

"We exist, and we change. Both viewpoints are true, and both are limited."

The crevo debates are much, much more than who's right and who's wrong. It's not about science. It's not about creation nor ID.

Those whose station in life is fine and comfy, they're either oblivious to such a critical issue or are simply indifferent to it. Their progeny's progeny will someday damn them for the future they would have left them.

To understand this issue one must understand history and demographics. History and geography speak to me. It is not as if all these ideas on crevo are new and original ideas, for writers and travelers from the earliest civilizations have written and contemplated these truths.

This time around, though, the homelands of Western Culture are at risk. If all of Western civilization succumbs to the evolutionists, there is no womb from which our Culture can again be born. We are in a battle not only for our own civilization this time, but also for the preservation of our expression of life on this planet.

"... all occupants of the car will dutifully turn and present the backs of their heads ..."

Dude, you don't know us at all! I would strongly advise you to never turn your back on us.

I swear I don't know how I got that "Kick Me!" tattoo on my posterior!

I've observed more recently that Western civilazation appears far more likely to succumb to the jihadists. Are they also evolutionists?

Actually I think they're all just jealous because Michelangelo left Mohammed out of his Sistine Chapel piece. But, maybe that was on purpose. To include him, he'd have had to paint his image, which is the BIG no-no, or so I hear. No mention on how G_D feels about how Mike rendered His physique. Also, I don't recall hearing about the worldwide Christian and Jewish riots that were sparked by Mike's G_D painting. Let's face it, if producing an image of Mohammed is REALLY bad, then just who did ol' Mike think he was painting G_D himself? And not even properly attired?

Well, it's obvious to me that Michelangelo, by some incredible miracle, escaped being beheaded or crucified or hanged, and the only scandal that sruvives is the bit about the Cardinal who complained to the Pope that Mike used his face as the face of Satan. Hey, at least he didn't use Mohammed's face.

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