Tom Sarbeck
@tomsarbeck
Active 7 years, 3 months ago-
tom sarbeck started the topic Responses to Politics: optimism, pessimism, idealism, cynicism, etc in the forum Politics 8 years, 10 months ago
Politics defined: human relations at levels more intense than many of us can handle.
No dictionary defines politics that way but it does stir emotions and it does drive people away.I returned from a war, started college and in a teachers preparation course read that idealism peaks in twelve-year-olds and declines gradually.
My idealism lasted…[Read more]
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tom sarbeck replied to the topic Moral Choice in the forum Small Talk 8 years, 10 months ago
David, your opening post told of events that took place in a courtroom, not of hypotheticals intended for discussion in a philosophy class. It all reads very much like special pleading.
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tom sarbeck replied to the topic Failed Conversion in the forum Atheism 8 years, 10 months ago
Robert, you can safely bet that Obama: 1) knew other ways, and 2) was pandering to theists.
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tom sarbeck replied to the topic Sunday School June 18th 2017 in the forum
Sunday School 8 years, 10 months agoYou would like to know one objective moral rule.
1. Does your moral code contain the word “steal”?
2. Is your preferred dictionary the OED?
3. Do you consider a dictionary as descriptive or prescriptive, and not an unstated combination of descriptive and prescriptive?Re #1. The OED defines “steal” as ‘taking [anther’s property] without…[Read more]
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tom sarbeck replied to the topic Moral Choice in the forum Small Talk 8 years, 10 months ago
No. People who know each other can easily make threats inaudibly or gesturally.
In the above case, I can say only that I did not perceive a threat’s being communicated. -
tom sarbeck posted an update in the group
What We Don't Talk About Is How We Are Controlled 8 years, 10 months agoConversations didn’t happen when I was a kid. My parents died before I learned the reason; they had grown up hearing “If you’re talking, you aren’t working.” It got worse. Unable to talk with their five kids, even to tell us the kind of behavior they wanted, they used violence. Eventually, I threw them out of my life. They weren’t alcoholics or…[Read more]
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tom sarbeck replied to the topic Natural Selection: Dems Want It to Go Slower, Repubs Want It to Go Faster in the forum Politics 8 years, 10 months ago
“The affordable care act only changes the health care available to those who normally would not be able to afford it.”
True, but when the ACA’s health care enables kids with non-fatal birth defects to reproduce, those defects may remain in the gene pool, making future generations less fit.
Anecdotally at least, prosperity correlates with…[Read more]
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tom sarbeck replied to the topic Natural Selection: Dems Want It to Go Slower, Repubs Want It to Go Faster in the forum Politics 8 years, 10 months ago
Mm-mm, satanic genes. Neat idea.
My two-year-older sister, in a Catholic high school, asked questions the nuns couldn’t answer and they told her to wait until Wednesdays and ask the priest.
I asked questions they couldn’t answer and they told me to read Augustine and Aquinas. I stomped away angry; I had other things I wanted to do with my life.
My…[Read more] -
tom sarbeck joined the group
Sunday School 8 years, 10 months ago -
tom sarbeck replied to the topic Donald Trump in the forum Politics 8 years, 10 months ago
Robert, regarding reasons for America’s late entry into WW2:
Jonathan Jordan’s 2015 book “American Warlords”, about Franklin Roosevelt’s high command, describes in detail the reasons you gave in your post and added America’s isolationism and the neutrality laws.
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tom sarbeck replied to the topic Who am I? in the forum Theism 8 years, 10 months ago
David, this is another attempt to herd cats.
In sixty years I’ve seen no evidence for the existence of any gods and I’m living as if I will never see evidence.
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tom sarbeck posted an update in the group
Science — the kind that requires evidence and reason. 8 years, 10 months agoTo learn more about keeping religion out of science classes, visit the National Committee for Science Education at http://www.ncse.com.
(Their URL would be dot org but someone else got it first.)In Dover, PA in 2005, NCSE and ACLU took an xian-majority school board to court and won. The voters then took the xians off the board. PBS did an hour-long…[Read more]
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tom sarbeck posted an update in the group
Twitter atheists 8 years, 10 months agoPresently voters in 18 states have the Direct Initiative and Referendum and are not the victims of the people they elect. Go for 50.
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tom sarbeck posted an update in the group
Twitter atheists 8 years, 10 months agoWinter Lily, in creating this group you done good. I will follow no more than ten tweeters; the Donald will be one of them until the GOP works up some courage and removes him from office.
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tom sarbeck joined the group
Twitter atheists 8 years, 10 months ago -
tom sarbeck posted an update in the group
Science — the kind that requires evidence and reason. 8 years, 10 months agoAny science, but my current favorite is the Electric Universe, aka the Plasma Universe.
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tom sarbeck replied to the topic The big red atheist button in the forum
To Do or not To Do 8 years, 10 months ago1. I live in earthquake country (California) where people are accustomed to occasional sudden movements.
2. Pushing the button would deprive theists of their security blanket and they would be too frightened to launch crime waves.
I would push the damn button.
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tom sarbeck joined the group
To Do or not To Do 8 years, 10 months ago - Load More
