Support NeoGAF

[devilhawk]

Did you know that the termite's ability to digest wood is not an inherited trait? They have to ingest the fecal matter of an adult before they have the bacteria necessary for digestion :lol

Yes.

I was more referencing the rise of MRSA and the like.

 

[Ether_Snake]

an obama presidency will catalyze intellectualism and common sense in america.

believe

Hopefully so. I'm not American but I believe that America has, IMO, what it needs to remain the world's leading super power. No other country has dealt with its own past like America has, no other country has brought so much progress for equal rights, and this is a result of its unique history and constitution. On top of that the US is full of great academics, scientists, intellectuals, etc, and they're able to work with other countries without the barriers of nationalism or pride. But it's a pain to know that whatever nation will fill the void will not be one I could say the same about.

 

[speculawyer]

Are you kidding? Evolutionarily speaking our species is on the short bus.

No way . . . well, at least on a land basis. We've taken over the entire land mass at every latitude and logitude pretty much.

 

[woxel1]

No way . . . well, at least on a land basis. We've taken over the entire land mass at every latitude and logitude pretty much.

Insects beg to differ.

 

[slidewinder]

Get that shit into the constitution. What do we have? State of the Union. Where the big blowhard stands up and everyone claps for him.

Screw that. We need question time. Where you get RAILED ON for an hour and the speaker is chosen by an old looking guy with funny glasses.

O-orrrder. O-orrrder. :lol So good.

 

[soul creator]

Did you know that the termite's ability to digest wood is not an inherited trait? They have to ingest the fecal matter of an adult before they have the bacteria necessary for digestion :lol

eat shit and di

Spoiler

gest wood

 

[Hitokage]

No way . . . well, at least on a land basis. We've taken over the entire land mass at every latitude and logitude pretty much.

We've yet to prove we're above killing ourselves off, directly or indirectly.

 

[PantherLotus]

How's about we just stick to what I actually wrote instead attacking what I didn't? Think we could do that?

Wow, you're getting kinda defensive and assumptive.

 

[demon]

"No, it doesn't. First of all, in addition to being just as helpless and independent as before, only now requiring proactive effort on the part of its caretaker(s), a newborn does not exhibit these characteristics, and yet we give it rights just for traveling through the magical personhood cave

The difference, the major difference, is that it's a separate biological entity after birth. As a fetus it's completely biologically dependent. As a newborn it's only socially dependent. Technically anyone can take care of it.

 

[devilhawk]

Don't know if this got posted yet. I know the original National enquirer story did.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0905083palin1.html

 

[PantherLotus]

We've yet to prove we're above killing ourselves off, directly or indirectly.

too many secrets

 

[methane47]

The abortion question is not "when does life begin" but "when does ensoulment occur" and that has already been answered by science... it doesn't... because souls aren't real.

But of course, reality isn't all that important to the pro-life crowd.

Flat earth caucus indeed.

REALLY??! This has been proven by science?? HOLY CRAP!

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Looks like some good news is needed here

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aMkg.UvIx23w&refer=us

Many Republicans say they have the greater burden. Arizona Senator McCain, 72, is ``either tied or behind in every swing state,'' says John Weaver, a former top adviser. ``It's an uphill battle, cobbling together 270 electoral votes.''

Young Voters

The use of the Internet and text-messaging may drive the outcome, particularly among the young voters who have been among Obama's most enthusiastic backers. The question is whether they will come to the polls in large numbers in November; if they do, it would be the first time since the voting age was lowered to 18 in 1972 that they will substantially affect the result.

Obama's campaign is conducting a massive voter-registration drive. Steve Hildebrand, his deputy campaign manager, says three states -- Florida, Michigan and North Carolina --- have more than 400,000 new voters; Georgia and Pennsylvania have more than 300,000. Most of the new voters favor Obama, he says.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/06/obama_helps_register_49k_new_v.html

Nationally, more than 2 million Democrats have been added to the rolls in the 28 states that register voters according to party affiliation, according to the Associated Press. Republicans have lost nearly 344,000 thousand voters in the same states during the same period.

 

[Mandark]

Don't presume my arguments, JD. If I did the same to you about, say, your oddly different standards for the self-determination of white people in Alaska and black people in DC, you'd get veeeeeeeery huffy about it.

 

[speculawyer]

You're right, it merely informs the decision, it can't make you be moral.

That is a HUGE pile of shit.

How is aborting a blastocyst immoral for an athiest? It isn't objectively . . . only subjectively if you hold the brother human supremacist view. I make my moral decisions on lessening suffering. A blastocyst has no brain or even any kind of neural system so it is incapable of 'suffering'.

 

[speculawyer]

We've yet to prove we're above killing ourselves off, directly or indirectly.

Hey . . . we engage in our version of selection. It's like evolution squared!

 

[JayDubya]

Don't presume my arguments, JD. If I did the same to you about, say, your oddly different standards for the self-determination of white people in Alaska and black people in DC, you'd get veeeeeeeery huffy about it.

Possibly. Bear in mind, I've danced that same dance many times, including with you, and I'm pretty sure I've got the choreography down at this point. By all means, diverge from my expectations.

Moral equivalent? No . . . literal equivalent.

Not even close to being literally equivalent, let alone morally equivalent.

Your skin cells are not in and of themselves a human being. Your sperm is not, in and of itself, a human being. When we talk about an organism, we are of course talking about all the cells that make up its body, whatever the quantity of cells and developmental state they currently hold.

Also, someone mentioned "reproduction" as a criterion for life. Yes, good job remembering that part, but did you remember the details? Mitosis qualifies. It does not necessarily refer to meiosis and sexual reproduction. If so, you're not alive and "really human" until puberty. Man, I've heard of some extreme abortion positions, but what trimester would that be when you're 11 or so?

 

[Hitokage]

Hey . . . we engage in our version of selection. It's like evolution squared!

Self-selecting ourselves out of the gene pool isn't my idea of success.

 

[Price Dalton]

You're making a mistake in just making the issue be about whether or not someone's religious. If you have no qualm about ending the life of a fetus, do you feel any reason to preserve the lives of adults with similar cognitive abilities? If so, why?

If someone's a complete vegetable, isn't the decision left up to the loved ones?

 

[speculawyer]

Pretty sure the global death rate's holding at 100%. Not sure what you want people to do about natural death, but something can be done about homicide.

But these are deaths that we could, if we thought it was actually important, could do something about. But we don't. Why? Because we don't really put value into a fertilized egg. We don't view it as a HUMAN BEING.

 

[tak]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/palin-media-a-2.html

Palin Media Avoidance Watch: Day 9 -- McCain Camp Says She Won't Do Interviews Until It Knows She'll Be Treated with "Deference"

I just threw up a little in my mouth.

How the heck can someone that wants to be the vice president of the United States (potentially the president) even consider hiding an option.

 

[Stinkles]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/palin-media-a-2.html


I just threw up a little in my mouth.

How the heck can someone that wants to be the vice president of the United States (potentially the president) even consider hiding an option.

You should be stoked. This will hurt her credibility. And what a fucking terrible excuse. Putin won't treat you with deference. HE WILL BREAK YOU.

 

[slidewinder]

We had a good run, though.

 

[Guts Of Thor]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/palin-media-a-2.html


I just threw up a little in my mouth.

How the heck can someone that wants to be the vice president of the United States (potentially the president) even consider hiding an option.

Translation: " She won't speak to the media until the media agrees not to ask her tough questions"

 

[speculawyer]

Insects beg to differ.

'Insects' are not a species. Yes, as a group they have a total mass that outweighs all mammals. But as a distinct species . . . we've pretty much kicked ass over the rest.

 

[CharlieDigital]

"[T]he case (Stallman vs. Youngquist) raises the broader policy and constitutional considerations that argue against using civil liability to control the behavior of pregnant women"

"Expanded access to prenatal education and heath care facilities will far more likely serve the very real state interest in preventing increasing numbers of children from being born in to lives of pain and despair."

After a series of court rulings and reversals, the Illinois Supreme Court held that the fetus doesn't have the right to sue its mother. The court warned that allowing a fetus to sue its mother could make them "legal adversaries from the moment of conception until birth."

"Imposing civil liability on mothers may be as likely to deter the carrying of pregnancies to term as to deter maternal negligence during pregnancy"

"Fetal-maternal tort suits might entail far more intrusive scrutiny of a woman's behavior than the scrutiny involved in the discrete regulation of the abortion decision"

Guess who?

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

No, really.

Why should all humans have rights but not other species?

So what rights for animals are you in favor of? And do we have to be proactive in protecting them with regard to OTHER animals who may not agree (lions, tigers, and bears OH MY)? Is wildlife footage equivalent with snuff films?

 

[Stinkles]

So what rights for animals are you in favor of? And do we have to be proactive in protecting them with regard to OTHER animals who may not agree (lions, tigers, and bears OH MY)?

Starting with kittens, they should have the right to be adorable.

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

Starting with kittens, they should have the right to be adorable.

That is simply an innate quality.

 

[Byakuya769]

Umm, was Track Palin born April 20, 1989??? If so, another example of bullshit evangelical hypocrisy...

 

[Stinkles]

That is simply an innate quality.

They should be allowed to exercise it for profit then.

 

[speculawyer]

Not even close to being literally equivalent, let alone morally equivalent.

Well that was pretty disengeous . . . you totally cut off my caveat. Shame.

 

[Gruco]

Pretty sure the global death rate's holding at 100%. Not sure what you want people to do about natural death

Make sexual intercourse illegal, obviously.

 

[mj1108]

Translation: " She won't speak to the media until the media agrees not to ask her tough questions"

Bingo.

List of subjects approved for questions:

State of Alaska
What it's like being Governor
Down Syndrome
Family
Lipstick/Pitbull
Barracuda
Mother of 5

 

[SecretDestroyer]

You're making a mistake in just making the issue be about whether or not someone's religious. If you have no qualm about ending the life of a fetus, do you feel any reason to preserve the lives of adults with similar cognitive abilities? If so, why?

What level of cognitive abilities are you talking about? Certainly, I see no purpose in preserving the lives of clinically brain dead adult humans.

 

[speculawyer]

Starting with kittens, they should have the right to be adorable.

That's probably the reason they've suceeded as well as they have.

Symbiosis FTW!

 

[Tamanon]

Bingo.

List of subjects approved for questions:

State of Alaska
What it's like being Governor
Down Syndrome
Family
Lipstick/Pitbull
Barracuda
Mother of 5
Obama

Amended! It'll be softball after softball and attacks against Obama's qualifications.:lol

 

[JayDubya]

Make sexual intercourse illegal, obviously.

Guess that'd make the Malthusians happy.

 

[Hitokage]

That's probably the reason they've suceeded as well as they have.

Well duh, domesticated cats are a product of artificial selection in the first place. Just think, caturday is older than any written record.

Guess that'd make the Malthusians happy.

Malthus wasn't wrong you know, we've just managed to fiddle with the values in his equation thus far.

 

[Particle Physicist]

Umm, was Track Palin born April 20, 1989??? If so, another example of bullshit evangelical hypocrisy...

i dont get it....?

 

[soul creator]

Guess who?

interesting article

the politico comments sections make my head hurt though :lol

 

[Trakdown]

i dont get it....?

I'm guessing it's a bad pot joke (4/20)

 

[speculawyer]

Palin Media Avoidance Watch: Day 9 -- McCain Camp Says She Won't Do Interviews Until It Knows She'll Be Treated with "Deference"

WTF?

If I were a media outlet, I'd agree to whatever terms they demand . . . and then immediately break them during the interview. At that point they can decide whether they want to answer the questions or have the footage of them getting up and walking out of the interview be aired.

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

That's probably the reason they've suceeded as well as they have.

Symbiosis FTW!

It's just a front. Cats are following a long term plan for global domination. Once they've eradicated humans they will reign supreme in the coming urban jungles - masters of the world we've unwittingly built for them and thought was ours.

We are the caretakers of the forefathers of the future rulers of the universe.

 

[Byakuya769]

i dont get it....?

she and her husband eloped in late august of 1988.. Just more of the same gays shouldn't get rights, but we can fuck well before we get married, despite what the bible says. That hypocrisy irks me.

 

[Particle Physicist]

she and her husband eloped in late august of 1988.. Just more of the same gays shouldn't get rights, but we can fuck well before we get married, despite what the bible says. That hypocrisy irks me.

ahhh.. actually. thats about 8 months.. too close to really call it anything.

 

[Trakdown]

WTF?

If I were a media outlet, I'd agree to whatever terms they demand . . . and then immediately break them during the interview. At that point they can decide whether they want to answer the questions or have the footage of them getting up and walking out of the interview be aired.

Well, there's a few explanations on why a media outlet would have to play by certain rules. None of them have anything to do with journalism.

 

[Gruco]

Guess that'd make the Malthusians happy.

People could still reproduce, but since human lives are at stake, they just couldn't take the risk of doing it the old fashioned way. I would think that we've advanced medically and morally far enough to be above such barbaric acts.

Sterile people would still be allowed to have sex.

 

[Mandark]

JD, I've never discussed the humanity of embryos with you, outside of asking you if you'd support the legal implications of treating abortion like murder.

I'm completely aware of the difference between a terminal loss of sentience and the temporary dependency of childhood. I know that we accord some rights to infants based on qualities they will eventually develop if they live that long.

But I also realize that we don't accord minors all the rights we do to adults and we let parents do things to their children that would be considered crimes if they did them to another adult. I don't have a problem breaking the Sorites paradox by saying you're a minor one day and an adult the next and I don't have the problem making a distinction between potential human/actual human either.

I'm fine drawing the line at birth because pushing back further means interfering with the mother's body. Pregnancy is a really big fucking deal for the woman involved, even though people who live in developed countries and have never gone through it tend to assume it's just an inconvenience.

The full humanity of the mother easily trumps the potential future humanity of the embryo for me. I can't give as much weight to a future life that hasn't occurred as I can to someone who already has the memories, thoughts, emotions, and viewpoint that make me empathize with my fellow humans.

Comparing the years of development of childhood with the temporary state of sedation does nothing for me.

 

[Ether_Snake]

A Digg comment: She's not a pit bull, just a lot of noise, lipstick chihuahua

:lol