America First: Why we need to examine our insane Foreign policy

self | 12/29/2001 | Demidog

[Roscoe]

What is Carto's Libertarian comrade Bradley Smith infamous for, demidog?

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Bump List change:

tex-oma;nunya bidness;malador;OWK;MadameAxe;JohnHuang2;Askel5;Cato;LSJohn;veronica;Uriel1975

New Bump List

tex-oma;nunya bidness;malador;OWK;MadameAxe;JohnHuang2;Askel5;Cato;LSJohn;veronica;OrthodoxPresbyterian

I've gone through a lot of changes of late... new house, new job, etc... all to the good, I'm happy to say, praise God... and I changed my screen name as well (decided to directly reference my chosen denomination to "let people know where I am coming from").

BUT, I would hate for the name change to result in missing out on your ping-list articles.
I almost missed this one!! So, just FYI...

Best,
OrthodoxPresbyterian (formerly Uriel1975)

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Jefferson would legalize sodomy? Nonsense. 918 posted on 12/31/01 8:26 PM Pacific by Roscoe

No, Jefferson would not have legalized sodomy. Jefferson had a gigantic Mind; and, as sometimes happens with gigantic minds, it was sometimes "all over the place". Patrick Henry is an even better example; while many libertarians will often appeal to Mr. Henry on many matters (being as he was opposed to the very concept of any "federal" Government which was not a strictly voluntary association of Sovereign States), the fact remains that Henry was an Establishmentarian advocate of publicly-funded State Churches (ahhh, but Henry believed that these Churches should be Established by the individual States... so, as the commensurate "States-Rights" advocate, Henry was quite "intellectually consistent" in his own quirky way)...

But all of that is a little besides the point. We know that Great Men have often harbored certain contradictions of thought (excepting only the man Jesus Christ -- if you're Christian, that is). The question is, in the progression of philosophical development, do we choose to divest ourselves of their contradictions, or do enshrine those contradictions as though they are the very Word of God? (Even Jefferson himself would not have claimed to be a Prophet, after all...)

Or put another way, the question is: What are your Principles?

Do you, personally, believe that sodomy should be punished by the State?

If so, why?

• On The One Hand, If you are a strict, old-school Christian Reconstructionist, then you could claim that Homosexuality and Blasphemy should be punished by the State -- as these sins are considered to be Crimes under the Levitical Covenant of Exodus and Deuteronomy. Of course, if you are a strict Reconstructionist, you would have to eliminate all Welfare, and all aspects of the Drug War... as these Government actions enjoy no sanction whatsoever under Biblical Law. Even the most rigorous application of Mosiac Law admits no State authority whatsoever over the matter of private intoxication, for example.

• On The Other Hand, if you are a strict Christian Libertarian, you would admit zero moral authority to the State whatsoever save the punishment of Murder, Theft, False Witness, Adultery, and Fraud... in keeping with a literal reading of Romans 13: 8-10.

But you don't claim to be a Christian at all, do you, Roscoe? In truth, you admit no legitimate Biblical constraints on the authority of the State... you are a pure Democrat, in the classical Athenian sense. If the Popular Will condemns Socrates to death by hemlock, you have no principled, moral objection to the Will of vox populi (your chosen "god") at all. It is, after all, the "democratic" thing to do.

"Whatever is.. is Right".
Those are your "principles".

[Roscoe]

Strike the pose.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Strike the pose. 925 posted on 12/31/01 10:43 PM Pacific by Roscoe

Good grief... You're a Madonna fan?

That's another strike against you, in my book... you have no taste in music, apparently.

Fits with your "democratic" ideals, though... Madonna and her pop-music legionnaires are the soma of tha masses, aren't they? And it's all about that vox populi "god" to you, after all, eh?

"Whatever is... is right" -- The Roscoe Book of Ethics

[Roscoe]

And hold it.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

And hold it. 927 posted on 12/31/01 10:58 PM Pacific by Roscoe

Lost me... more Madonna lyrics? I don't have them memorized... do enlighten me.

[Roscoe]

Shaky.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Shaky. 929 posted on 12/31/01 11:32 PM Pacific by Roscoe

Sorry, big guy, I really don't have your command of Madonna lyrics.

My taste has always run to stronger stuff, but I respect your First Amendment right to your MTV fluff (gosh, I even have principles for doing so...)

[Roscoe]

Furtive.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Furtive. 931 posted on 12/31/01 11:56 PM Pacific by Roscoe

fur·tive (fûrtv)
adj.

1. Characterized by stealth; surreptitious.
2. Expressive of hidden motives or purposes; shifty. See Synonyms at secret.

See Example: Roscoe's persistent refusal to answer questions posed to him.
As above: "Do you, personally, believe that sodomy should be punished by the State?"

Well, Roscoe? You raised the counter-example, therefore you assume advocacy for the contrary position.

Since we're making our arguments from pop-culture references, allow me to quote from Bud Fox in Wall Street:
"You never had the guts to stake your own claim!!"

Want to raise a counter-argument? Then assume advocacy, and state your position. Stake your claim.

You can't.

[Roscoe]

Desperate.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Desperate. 933 posted on 1/1/02 12:08 AM Pacific by Roscoe

Nope.

Stake an intellectual proof-claim.
Deliver a properly-premised and consistent logical argument.

I'd love to see it. But you never will. You can't. You know in advance that you'd be crushed.
Thus your usual resort to one-liners. You can't do better, and we both know it full well (you know I'm trying to draw you out, and I know you fear the confrontation. We dance our little dance...)..

Try something more intellectually involved.
You'll lose, every time.

We both know it.
Hence your small-bid bluffs.

Nothing new.

[Roscoe]

.

[AKbear]

LOL, welcome back OP.

[Demidog]

I had forgotten your new screen name. Welcome back. I love it when you spank old Roscoe the troll.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

LOL, welcome back OP. 936 posted on 1/1/02 12:27 AM Pacific by AKbear

"If you crush out individuality by the strong arm of the State, then ultimately the state will be all, and the individual and the family will be nothing, and liberty will be destroyed." -- the Reverend Dr. J. Gresham Machen... Bulwark of Biblical Fundamentalism, Opponent of Prohibitionism, and founder of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Good to be back. May God send His blessings on you and yours.

[AKbear]

Thank you, happy new year to you and yours.

Is the fellow you quoted the Machen of Machen-Butler Society fame?

[Sandy]

I love it when you spank old Roscoe the troll.

LOL. Check out the "Addicted to the Drug War" thread. Donh has been giving him a major butt-kicking.