Voltaire on the Palestinian problem...

In the Story of Philosophy
Will Durant quotes Voltaire:


If you wish to speak with me, define your terms.


For the sake of an argument, let's imagine Voltaire was suddenly reincarnated, and we asked him to opine on the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

Here are some beginning definitions that I imagine Voltaire might insist upon:


(1) Where did the Palestinians mostly live before there was an official state of Israel?

(2) For how many years did they live there?

(3) Were they asked to move? Or were they made to move?

(4) What sort of compensation was given?

Any dialog on the conflict must at bare root minimum begin with answers to these questions.

Thought experiment

Thought experiment:

Imagine two indentical humanoid planets created by God as an experiment. Both planets are given a dose of free will.

In the first planet, God creates a gene that causes the humanoids to believe in god.

In the second planet God omits the gene.



Question:

Which planet will fall to its knees in war prayers?
Which planet will ban pain medicine?
Which planet will have great conflicts involving cartoons?
Which planet will prove that God is irrelevant?

Which planet would you rather live on?

"It's a miracle," fiancee exults...

The paper on my kitchen table continues to report:

Terry Goff, a friend of one of the miners, said he learned that the miners were alive when the bell at the Baptist church began ringing just before midnight.
"When they found the body and said the carbon monoxide levels were high, I doubted my faith," he said, "but now we've got 12 men walking off that hill."

You doubted your religious faith?
Congratulations.
That's a start to becoming fully human.

But now answer me this:

Did you vote in November of 2004 for the party that believes in federal regulation and oversight for mine safety?

Or are you a republican chucklehead that likes to piss on OSHA, sissy liberals, and their nanny state?

Just wondering...

~~~~~~~~~UPDATE:~~~~~~~~~~~

On The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer last night (1/04/06) the wife of a miner exploded in tears and anger at the camera: "I tell you right now, who ever is responsible for this [the erroneous news about the rescue] is going to be sued."

An odd thought popped into my mind right then.

I saw Bill O Reilly's angry face shouting at her:
"Shut Up! Shut Up! Shut Up!
Tort reform!
Tort reform!
Tort reform!"


You don't suppose she is a Bill O Reilly fan do you?

Just wondering...

100 year stock streak gets bushwacked

It was back in 1995 or 1996 that Dan Dorfman, at the time writing for USA Today, introduced his readers to a phenomenal bit of stock market magic:

For all years ending in "5" the stock market had NEVER known a loss.

No one knew why this was so.
No one even had a credible theory.
It just was.

But what was PROFOUNDLY impressive was the 35% average gain for those years.

That is simply off the charts.
It was one of those things you just looked at and gulped:
Huh? How? WHAAAT?? Good grief!

For a decade I kept Dorfman's news percolating in my brain, waiting for the arrival of 2005. As 2004 drew to a close, I angled my funds, readying to sink chips into a Dow-linked index fund.

But I hesitated,
and hesitated,
and hesitated.

And ended up NEVER pulling the purchase trigger.

Why?
Why would I wait a decade to play a interesting wager... and then not make it?

Because Bush was president.

You see, I've got this theory that this ne'er-do-well can (and will) fuck up anything and everything. He's got the anti-Midas touch: He turns things to shit.

And guess what?

He did:

Methinks...