February 24, 2013

No I don't.

Who starts and engages in the pile-ons, because someone had the audacity or the obliviousness to use some commonly used word. A word from the real world, usually taken out of context, or even mis-defined. A word that happens to be on someone's elses personal, unpublished no-no list.
Who starts the acrimonious OP's guaranteed to to be derisive of any who disagree? It is always the same people. Always.

These are the people that hide behind the misnomer of Political Correct as somehow being Liberal. Actually it is not. Its roots are dictatorial. 1984 Group Think covers it. The strategy is more along the lines of the rigid talking points the Republicans use for their agendas. Black/white thinking, us/them, enforced by bullying, quite often by arrogant, intolerant people, that have, need and use enemies. An enemy they think needs to be vanquished.
It is the "in your face" adversarial front presented, that turns others off. Being PC is actually destructive to advancements in dealing with sexism, racism and acceptance of LGBT as normal human beings. While the words on their PC lists may not be used as often, the underlying bigoted mind-set is still there and other words and phrases will take the place of the censored words.
You can't win people over to your cause, by being antagonistic toward them. The saying, "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar", has more than a grain of truth. You really can win people to your side more easily by gentle persuasion and flattery than by hostile confrontation.

I was in the archives of DU2 yesterday. What a difference between the discussions there and here. There the participants were much more civil toward each other. Here, not so much anymore.

February 20, 2013

You are telling me that banning words will rid DU of sexism, homophobia and racism?

Really? Since when? That should be so easy. How does banning words change anyone's mind-set in regards to their own bigotry?
The best you can hope for is to hide the bigotry a bit better. It is still there, only now it is easier to ignore. The problem is not solved. It is made worse, because now more people will not see it for what it is, when it actually does exist.
It is the mind-set, not the words used, that is the problem. And then there is the little problem of context. Any one word can mean a lot of things, depending on how it is used and the subject matter being discussed.

You do realize most DU members have to deal with the real world also? You know in the real world it is much harder to alert on anyone? And when you are wrong the consequences can be expensive? Worst case, libel suits and restraining orders are a possibility.
Anyway, what besides banning words, are you doing to to eliminate sexism, homophobia and racism, out in the real world? Or is your focus just on DU?
Trying to just ban words, to fix a far deeper problem, is nothing more than spinning your wheels in the mud in an effort to set a land speed record. And just as effective.

February 17, 2013

There are groups of people here, with secret lists of words, that when one of those words are seen

by them, it cause an involuntary, unthinking, knee jerk type reaction, causing them to hit "Alert". The words on their lists seem to vary between the various individuals carrying them. They have been known to exchange, add and drop words without notice.
The usual excuse for not using whatever word, is because someone somewhere, someone that does not even read DU, will be offended and hurt by said word. Never mind the context. Never mind the subject matter. Quite often, never mind the true meaning of the word! It is the word itself, in their mind, that is somehow always injurious when used. Myself, I see it as bullying.
Exact synonyms for said word are quite often just fine. Makes no sense to me either. In your example, if you had used the word "moran" instead, you would have been fine.


Too bad the guilty don't get a clue.

February 17, 2013

What makes you think the two "Leaved it" Jurors shirked their duty?

This place is full of Blue Dogs, DINO's, 3rd Way and other Right of center caricatures of humanity.

February 12, 2013

We are all around you.

But many women do not see us as we are. Or even prefer to not see us as we really are. Most of us are kind and loving.
It IS because we tend more to act our feelings and less to speak our feelings, the opposite of women, that we are marginalized and emotionally kicked to the curb by the more vocal, who, quite often. would prefer to play the roll of victim anyway.

We try to do good, but because the Valentine card is not gooey enough, or because we take out the trash without being ask, or told... or we wash/gas-up YOUR car/truck on a whim, or any of thousands of little thing we do to say 'We love and appreciate you"... You do not see our actions as expressions of Love. You really do not. It takes its emotional toll on us after a while.
Many men have trouble saying those words. Not because we don't mean them, not because we don't love you, but because our speech centers are not as well connected to our emotions as women's are. Men as a whole really do have a problem saying the words that you want to hear, need to hear. So we express our love for each other differently. We all need to recognize our gender differences, that reflect the way we view and do things.

You need words, but we supply deeds in place of our words, so you do not understand what we are saying to you.

February 10, 2013

What bullshit...

1%? How about a more realistic 3% to 5%? That 1% won't even cover their yearly increase in their health insurance.
This pay raise that actually isn't, is part of the reason the 'recovery' isn't going very well. This is the same faulty thinking that is being applied to Social Security. And with the same effect, a stagnate economy on main street.
While out an about last night, we noticed a hardware store, closed and vacant. They were open last week. More people sucked down the drain, to swell the unemployment numbers.

February 10, 2013

So what?

The question should be; "As a rule, are the facts MadHound posts, correct?" Reading down through this thread alone, I would have to say, "Why yes they are."
Why? Because their are no real refuting of what he posts. But there is a lot of attacking the messenger type replies.

It should not matter if most of his post are critical of the Obama Administration, or not. What should matter is, Are what he posts factual, truthful?
That is not your real problem with him anyway. MadHound is pointing out, correctly in my view, International war crimes, for using our military for killing non-combatants in countries we are not at war with, under the guise of "Fighting Terrorism".
As is repeatedly pointed out around here, and just as often ignored, if a Republican President were to be doing the exact same thing as Obama is doing, most of us would be up in noisy arms!
Your problem and your like minded buddies problem seems to be too much blind admiration and not enough critical thinking about why we as a country are actuality doing in the Middle East in the first place!
In other words, too much "Rah, rah, rah, USA, USA, USA!" and not enough !

February 6, 2013

Try this then

Edited to add this is on page 507

February 6, 2013

Protection of American Rights of Person and Property Abroad

February 6, 2013

Here is a clue for ya...

Now how much does college cost? What is the economic strati most of these kids live in? Duh!
Maybe the problem is in the thinking that everyone needs a college education. You know, like the schools administrators have.
Maybe the problem is in the thinking of the college educated that working with you hands is somehow demeaning.
What is wrong with training these kids to be auto mechanics, computer techs, agriculture, whatever. Jobs that do not require what is normally thought of as needing a college education. How about giving them the knowledge and skills to survive as an adult doing something other than street corner drug deals or prostitution?

At one time I taught electronics at a community college Votec Center. There was a bias with the city school system administrators toward a college education. The conciseness with them was, the dumb ones went to the Votec Center because they weren't smart enough to make in college.
There were kids in the auto mechanics class that could not read. It wasn't because they didn't want to. It wasn't because they were stupid or dumb, or retarded. They had a learning disability. They could rebuild an engine with the best of them. They could look at the pictures in the book, read the numbers correctly for the clearances and specs, use the all the tools necessary to do the job right. And do it just as fast as anyone else. There was nothing wrong with their mechanical ability. There were several kids like this. They just could not read. Make the rest of us try that sometime. Look at the pictures in an auto mechanics book, read only the numbers and do the rebuild job right on a real engine and make it run.

I had a kid in one of my classes, who could seeming read just fine. But it would not stick. He could not explain what he had just read, when reading something to himself. But if he heard it, if he read it out loud, or if someone else read to him, he was fine. His eye sight was fine. Nothing wrong there. Just some missing some connection in the brain. B+ student in all his classes.

There are all kinds of reasons why college is not a realistic option for most people. These same the people that think these kids were not smart enough to go to college, could not do any of the mechanical skills jobs, or would struggle with the math required for electronic design, fail miserably at farming or similar jobs, that some of these kids could do naturally.

College is not the answer for a large percentage of the population. But that is what is being pushed, even now. How many people have a college degree and have never use it in the field of their education. The percentage of wasted time, money and knowledge is quite large. Just because you have a college education in say, economics does not mean you would be any better than at the job you ended up with, than a trade school graduate. Or even just a high school graduate.
My boss, the person who hired me for an IT job, had a high school education. No college. She was in charge of 9 IT people covering the state. She was making something like $100,000 a year when she retired.
Educate people for their natural abilities. I understand they do do this in some countries in Europe. Germany come to mind, for one.