Comments by Goldy

Comment #256017 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 4:41 pm

alan N, most we get are the media stories. We don't know what is right or wrong.
As an aside, in the media, I did see this
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/weekinreview/21filkins.html?ref=middleeast

Every other Shiite family also fled Zhrawaya; it is still largely empty. To slow the death squads, the Americans built a two-mile-long cement wall around the outskirts of her neighborhood. It's 20 feet high and painted baby blue. It gives the neighborhood a bleak and claustrophobic feel.

In the 24 months that her sons were gone, Ms. Salman said she rarely ventured outside. The exception, she said, was when she saw American soldiers.

"Oh, I love them," Ms. Salman said, brightening in her darkened house. "I always knew I was safe with them."

With life returning to normal in Adamiyah, the Salman brothers and their families recently returned.

"We are the first Shia to come back," Feraz said. "The rest of the families are still too afraid."

202. Debate: Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?

Comment #256011 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 4:36 pm

My retort for the "Hitler was an atheist" argument would be that Nazism was a de facto religion in itself

My retort is that Hirohito was a god :-)

203. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #256007 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 4:34 pm

Comment #255982 by GoatBoy36
See what happens in Austria, then we'll find out.

204. Debate: Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?

Comment #256006 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 4:31 pm

Comment #255975 by Amnis73
I'm just tired - only one hour earlier and I'm jetlagged! :-)
I wonder sometimes (not often - generally thinking of my cars and bikes - and of course, my family and what I need to do to the house and stuff) if those that become very indoctrinated are the same that become addicted quickly to substances? Maybe that could be why a minority volunteer for, say, suicide duties and the rest make excuses (or become leaders - heaven forbid they do the hard work!).

Diacanu

As for personal delusions,...hmm....no, if it could be objectively revealed to me by a perfectly constructed argument that I'm an unintelligent no-talent, even though that would depress me so bad, I'd literally have to blow my brains out, I'd STILL prefer the truth.
I'd literally take death over delusion.

That's a bit extreme - millenia spent perfecting beer means it is a decent antidote to low self esteem :-) Mind you, that's probably why I am stuck in a positive feedback loop....

205. Debate: Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?

Comment #255966 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 3:56 pm

Comment #255958 by Bonzai
Maybe the difference is that religion is sanctioned by society and so you can't (or won't) be laughed at by others for your delusion unlike the Supermanists :-)

206. Debate: Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?

Comment #255961 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 3:53 pm

Amnis, suicide bombers (indeed, suicide anything for a cause) had been covered once on this site. Muslims are not the only ones - you have the Tamil Tigers using the same tactic for secular reasons. Mind you, maybe that idea takes place in the brain's religious centres - it wasn't being used for gods so some other idea took over :-)
Catholic guilt is a symptom, I'd agree. After all, having been born in sin and being told so is...well, if you take it all to heart, it can't be good for you :-) Luckily, most Catholics I know are more human than religious.... :-D

207. Debate: Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?

Comment #255950 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 3:44 pm

Diacanu, people do also use fantasy figures for their inspiration. I believe that is one of the reasons clerics are calling for televisions producers' deaths...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/world/middleeast/27beirut.html?em

Perhaps the best example is "Noor," the popular Turkish series that ran over the summer. The show violated Arab cultural taboos in a number of ways: besides having Muslim characters who drank wine with dinner and had premarital sex, one of the male protagonist's cousins had an abortion.

Perhaps more important, the male protagonist, called Muhannad in the Arabic version, treats his wife as an equal and supports her career as a fashion designer.

The show and the liberties it displayed prompted unusual condemnations from hard-line clerics throughout the Middle East, including Sheik Abdul Aziz al-Asheik, Saudi Arabia's leading cleric, who instructed Muslims not to watch it.

But the show appears to have been the single most popular television drama ever shown in the Arab world. The finale, broadcast on Aug. 30, drew 85 million viewers, according to surveys by the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation, the network that showed it. Of those, more than 51 million were women over 15, more than half the total number of adult women in the entire Arab world.

208. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #255945 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 3:40 pm

Austrian elections
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7639805.stm
I believe the main parties voted for are for keeping the European-ness of Austria. Time will tell how this goes down with the other countries...

209. Debate: Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?

Comment #255942 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 3:37 pm

Diacanu

The harm is living in a delusion

I dunno - I live in the delusion I'm some gorgeous hunk of stud-muffin as opposed to what my wife tells me I am....

210. Debate: Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?

Comment #255940 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 3:35 pm

Atheism and communism are indivisible

Damn, I thought it was Nazism, or Fascism....no, hang on, it was Darwinism...or something... ;-)

211. Debate: Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?

Comment #255938 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 3:31 pm

Hi Goldy, fancy seeing you on a Monday morning :)

We're on Summer time now - I'm only here in flesh, not spirit! ;-) Though once I finish this second coffee, I may rouse myself to do some work...
I sometimes wonder if a lot of the religious don't need the religion to make them nice but use it as an explanation for their altruism (so to speak - I'm still tired). Of course, religion helps keep the other nutters in check and also is useful in identifying said nutters.
It does irk me when people say religion is the cause, when it might just be a symptom, of a person's behaviour.

212. Debate: Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?

Comment #255922 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 3:09 pm

The fact that all mankind, pretty much, has some form of religion suggests to me that we (H. sapiens) need it. Or at least, needed it.
I personally don't use it in my life. None of my immediate family do. However, I just can't shake off that feeling that man, as a species, appears to have evolved this brain that needs to rationalise (or irrationalise, as I personally see it) the unknown. It is a shame that once the unknown is known many still need to cling to the past, as it were, but hey, that's people for you...

213. Debate: Would We Be Better Off Without Religion?

Comment #255916 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 2:55 pm

CAN YOU BELIEVE THE GEOLOGIST WHO SAID THERE WAS A WORLD FLOOD 7400 YEARS AGO???

Not having seen the debate - can't get it here at work - did he mean a world wide noah-like flood? Or did he mean a rather large flooding such as was assumed to have occured when the inland sea in the present US broke through the ice dams and went into the oceans (I believe this started the Younder Dryas Ice ages - something I read so might be wrong...)

214. Conservative Pastors to Break Law by Endorsing a Candidate

Comment #255897 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 2:15 pm

In the NZ Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10534699 - I put this one antoher thread too.

Amnis
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10534691

I think you'd be OK :-)

215. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #255896 by Goldy on September 28, 2008 at 2:10 pm

In my local paper
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10534699
Palin debate story.

For the Islamically interested, we have this too -
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10534691
"Integrate or stay away, migrants told"
I loved this

Many in the crowd were seen shaking their heads with disapproval at Mr Brown's suggestions, with some - such as refugee Mohd Faisel Daud - leaving the hall.

Mr Daud said: "I still don't know who I will vote for, but after listening to Mr Brown, at least I know who I will not be voting for."

This year Mr Brown has also suggested shutting the door on Asian immigrants, saying there was a danger Asian "mini-societies" were being built in New Zealand.

As a Muslim, Mr Mohd says the New Zealand First suggestion is "ridiculous" because it is in the Koran that "women must live differently to men".

And this http://www.nzherald.co.nz/terrorism/news/article.cfm?c_id=340&objectid=10534281
"Islam isn't a synonym for terrorism"

Enjoy :-)

216. Russian woman put on trial in Dubai for drinking juice in public

Comment #254530 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 8:33 pm

Gamma ut - not drinking juice for one month to apartheit. Quite the leap. Can I use that about drinking beer in public in the US? Heck, maybe the smokers can start using that to re-instate smoking in pubs!

217. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #254528 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 8:27 pm

Titania, I think certain doctors of ethics (Oxon) don't factor in reality in their vision of the world...

218. Russian woman put on trial in Dubai for drinking juice in public

Comment #254526 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 8:24 pm

Not having the funds to travel to Dubai, I simply do my best here.

Not worth it now, mate. My parents said it looked like any US city. Now, had you gone in the mid 70s...

Diacanu - nice try ;-)

219. Russian woman put on trial in Dubai for drinking juice in public

Comment #254525 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 8:22 pm

Umm, because they arrest you for drinking juice?

In a public place during one month of the year. In the US, I believe you can be arrested for drinking an alcoholic beverage in the open if the container is not in a paper bag :-)
According to Wikipedia

Drinking alcohol in public places, such as streets and parks, is against the law in most of the United States (see below) and in some European countries,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage

Having drunk many a juice in the Middle East, I can safely say they do not arrest you.

If you want to know why this has happened -

This year, however, the authorities intend to remind all residents and guests of the emirate that they are staying on the territory of a Muslim country. There have been quite a number of incidents recently when the local police in plain clothes arrested women sunbathing topless, nudists and other violators of public order.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/briton-faces-jail-for-sex-on-dubai-beach-863918.html - yep, you can blame us Brits for that!

220. Russian woman put on trial in Dubai for drinking juice in public

Comment #254520 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 8:12 pm

If you're dumb enough to vacation in Dubai, you get what you deserve

Taking a holiday in Dubai is dumb because....? I lived in Abu Dhabi between 1974-8 and I still have the fondest childhood memories of the place. My parents also think it is one of the best times of their lives. The poeple haven't changed any in between - just gotten older and less Muslim, probably.
Besides, if it's a law, it's a law. Shit, living there we knew not to do anything that might irk a local in public. Have a drink in a private place (we drank like lords during Ramadan in Syria - Arabs included - in our homes). You should try and find out these things before you go - it's really not that hard.
Not like Dubai is alone with seemingly silly laws...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/2566224/Italys-mayors-crack-down-on-public-kissing.html
And I hear that in some Indian cities, holding hands is enough to get the locals all het up...

221. Russian woman put on trial in Dubai for drinking juice in public

Comment #254512 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 7:44 pm

Sciros, bet my TR6 pumps out more than your SUV. In fact, I'll bet starting my TR pumps out more than your SUV does in a month :-)

PS: It is for sale...

222. Russian woman put on trial in Dubai for drinking juice in public

Comment #254509 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 7:43 pm

Right now though, they should get the Israelis, with their tried and tested Sabbath-safe(tm) technology, to develop a juice machine that turns off automatically during the daylight hours of Ramadan.

Don't even need anything too fancy. Some poles and a rather long piece of string. Build themselves a giant eruv...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruv

223. When Atheists Attack

Comment #254449 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 5:10 pm

And on topic
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10534326

Video shows pastor protecting Palin from 'witchcraft'

224. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #254448 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 5:09 pm

Chondro malacia patellae - a "growing" I was reassured. All in my mind, I was also told. Ha - my arse it is. Imagine pain so bad you actually think amputation is a decent option.
Kidney stones - topical...kills children

225. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #254423 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 4:50 pm

Also, kidney stones do not last for nine months. So none of you guys can use the kidney stone card.

Apparently it's only the last trimester that's physically bad, what with loose ligaments and weight of foetus issues. Wife is lucky morning sickness was not too bad - but we men get that if we like beer.
:-)

226. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #254413 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 4:30 pm

Mitchell, snap on the hernia. Thought I'd be fine after a day or so - hahahahah! Doesn't compare to c-section though, according to she that knows...

227. 'Redesigned Hammer' That Forged Evolution Of Pregnancy In Mammals Found

Comment #254392 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 3:55 pm

Mord, I was but now she's very pregnant. You would not believe the regime I have to follow to maintain my sympathetic figure. You would, however, believe the shit I get for being so sympathetic... ;-)

228. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #254390 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 3:53 pm

Sciros, the anaesthetics wear off after a while. The the fun begins...
Talking of c-sections, that screws up everything for a while - can't sit up, back pain as there is no frontal support when standing, etc, etc..

I have to say reading some of the rebuttals, an Oxford degree doesn't seem to be as good as they say it is nowadays. Of course, I'm just a thicko with some provincial qualifications so can't argue the point...

229. Russian woman put on trial in Dubai for drinking juice in public

Comment #254379 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 3:38 pm

Funnily enough, in Syria, during Ramadan, the bedouins used to come to the workshop for a drink of water from the tap (and to see if there was anything they could help with etc)
We asked about it - the Muslim workers told us that since they were bedouin it was OK, even though they were Muslim too.
I wonder if this is a case of asserting sovereignty by the Dubai judiciary. After all, a couple of Britons were arrested recently there for shagging on a beach, weren't they?

230. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #254377 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 3:34 pm

After fourteen hours of "natural" labor, I became exhausted and asked for an epidural.

It took but one apparently mild contraction to convince my wife to have one. Mind you, we hear from our current midwife that the last one might have been a bit...slack in her duties.
I had to endure a lazyboy chair that constantly shut. I didn't have a choice of epidural...probably why my back's crook now ;-)

231. When Atheists Attack

Comment #254376 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 3:31 pm

Fanusi, there is no insinuation of racism. The last man has a "Muslim" name. He might be a convert for all I know. But he is calling himself British...
Maybe it is a case of deception...

That, combined with the deception that is Islamically mandated, makes it very difficult to know who's who.

or maybe it is a genuine case that one can be a Muslim and a member of a group. It could even be that he is a secular or ideed atheist member of Britain but is labelled by his name. It happens, you know. Read about people called Ali in the wrong neighbourhoods in Iraq. Or of Bosnians with a "Muslim" name during the war.
That is all I was trying to imply. Anything more is misreading my post.

Edit - my BBC comment was inspired by this....

This is so patently idiotic only the BBC could take it seriously.

Something you said a wee while back. I might have misread your meaning behind this line...

232. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #254373 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 3:26 pm

Damn, missed the beer part!

233. 'Redesigned Hammer' That Forged Evolution Of Pregnancy In Mammals Found

Comment #254358 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 3:04 pm

Carto - that's the male partner's excuse. I know, I'm using the sympathetic pregnancy excuse myself at the mo....

234. More atheists are sharing their views

Comment #254354 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 3:03 pm

How could even 'supernatural' be unequivocally defined?

Stuff we haven't figured out yet?

235. More atheists are sharing their views

Comment #254350 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 3:02 pm

Regarding Britons talking about religion - unless they are faced with women bishops or some new neighbour of "foreign" looks, mentioning ones religion in polite conversation is akin to farting rather loudly...

236. When Atheists Attack

Comment #254342 by Goldy on September 25, 2008 at 2:56 pm

in poll after poll you get a huge support for Jihadism, Shariah etc.

You do, but they are still in the minority. A minority in a minority.
In the BBC (again - I know, I know, a hotbed of left-wing, multi-culti blah blah blah...)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7622906.stm
Last picture (click on the number 8)

"I'm British and I think I have the most naturally beautiful teeth in Hounslow," ....

What mental image does that conjure in your mind? A white bloke (or, indeed, lass)? Read and find out who this beautifully toothed self confessed Briton is...

237. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253739 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 9:23 pm

Aaah, Brian, that's easy. I have my name on no piece of paper :-) The patients sign it and it is witnessed by a doctor. I merely do the transporting and testing - I am no name :-)

238. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253735 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 9:16 pm

Only another Goldette at the mo, Brian ;-) Patient DNA has to wait for some purification tubes to arrive...

Another thing I want to know - if the doctors that do not want to have anything to do with abortion have their way, why is it that they are then absolved of all responsibility for their actions?
Never mind doing the actual operation - I can understand that - but to the extent of not referring the patient to another. That sounds like obstruction to me and the birth of the resulting child would, in my mind, be as a consequence of that action. Yet suddenly, the doctor has no responsibility...or..?

239. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253727 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 8:39 pm

Cheers for that TalkyMeat.
OK, the doc doesn't want to abort and that's his right (we'll ignore the contractual obligations as maybe the patient didn't read the fine print).
Is it then also the doctors right not to refer the patient to another doctor? And if so, is it the doctors right to, say, actively ensure pregnancy is only terminated at birth or natural spontaneous abortion? I am right in assuming if it is such a dilemma for the doctor, he or she would see to it that abortion is not done...at all costs?

240. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253713 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 7:45 pm

I could bring them up, Brian, but then are they the same as the DNA I have frozen in the freezer?

241. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253706 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 7:24 pm

The moral argument is because my conscience tells me it is good. Without my freezing and constraining the DNA, they shall fall and degrade upon the floor. Now, they might want to fall and degrade upon the floor, but they don't tell me that. I have, therefore, to assume what they want and save them - my conscience tells me so :-)

242. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253699 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 7:09 pm

:-) Got ethical approval, Brian. And the permission from the still living person. In writing. But then, if my conscience tells me differently....it's OK! A DPhil from Oxford says it's fine :-)
Thinks - if the DNA I have is separate from the person it was extracted from, does that make my tubes different people?

243. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253696 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 7:04 pm

Brian, even a tube of DNA (like the ones I have sitting in my freezer here at work) would probably count...
Anyway

PERFECT! Now, for 'person' in the above sentence insert 'medical doctor'. QED. I rest my case.

In this ethical world (he has a DPhil, you know. From Oxford, no less...) the doctor does not have to do anything. Not even follow through on a contract. Never mind not following through on a contract, said doctor can even, in order to salve his or her conscience and religious wishes, obstruct the patient in their quest for treatment.
I sure would love to live in J86's world - must be a paradise... And I only have an MPhil from Bradford, so I guess that doesn't count...

244. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253690 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 6:54 pm

There's a tax on syn? And it's not your first language/ So spelling might be out??? A tax on sin?!?!?! AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!
:-D
Sorry, being silly.
Brian, the fact that a bundle of cells is not yet a person, I believe, is neither here nor there. If it can't answer for itself, as you can see, there are many willing to answer for it. Even if it does want to die....

245. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253685 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 6:41 pm

It amazes me how ready people on this website are to make moral pronouncements on behalf of others that they are utterly incompetent to make. Wannabe priests, I guess.

It is rather, isn't it?

246. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253683 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 6:40 pm

Comment #253682 by Brian English
Except, of course, if you see the embryo as a person. Generally, no one asks the embryo. But then, the embryo was not asked to be conceived either...hmmm...

247. Without God

Comment #253679 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 6:35 pm

Severalspeciesof

In a serious note here, according to what I've learned about physics, you actually are (physically speaking) different than you were just 15 minutes ago. Every atom in your body has been replaced by another.

How's that for a mind blowing thought?

Cool, so all I have to do is wait about 15 minutes before denying everything! And I won't even be lying!
But then Mitchel Gilks burst my bubble. Luckily, 10 years works for me too - memories can be...adaptable! :-D

IF one suffers from total amnesia and is reprogrammed to be another, is that person then the other?

248. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253673 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 6:26 pm

J86 - doing his job, as I stated in my last post, also includes referring the patient to another doctor. Here, I'll quote it again...

The law would require a doctor who does not want to perform an abortion to refer the patient to an alternative doctor or hospital.

Why do you think this is on a par with performing abortions?
And I do have to admit, I did err. I made the classic mistake of assuming a male doctor...
Debate with me is easy. If you have no answers or are getting stuck, please let me know - I'll give you some so we may continue ;-)

Oh, and you didn't really answer the question - how is she conscripting the doctor? Especially as he has a get out clause....

249. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253670 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 6:17 pm

Peace, we're not even debating abortion, really. We're debating a doctor's right not to refer a woman seeking an abortion to another doctor who might help her out.

The law would require a doctor who does not want to perform an abortion to refer the patient to an alternative doctor or hospital.

Said doctor doesn't have to do a thing other than say "I know someone else who can help you" and wash his or her hands of the whole affair.
And, of course, this is in a Catholic hospital. Call me silly but if I were a woman, I don't think I'd be going to a Catholic hospital regarding an abortion in the first place....

250. Catholic maternity wards 'face closure' if abortion law passes

Comment #253661 by Goldy on September 24, 2008 at 6:04 pm

I don't disagree with you that "she is entitled to be in charge of it." What I question is whether she is entitled to conscript someone else to execute her wishes, contrary to their consciences

How is she conscripting this doctor? She is merely employing him to do his job which he himself had chosen to do.