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#881
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great FunFor Everyone
In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful Eric Chomko declared:
Sean O'Hara wrote: Unless you wish to argue that civilization began within the last hundred years and has barely spread across Europe, yes. Then why did the US abolish it as a form of capital punishment? As others have pointed out, we haven't. But that's irrelevant. Even if the US had abolished hanging, that wouldn't mean it was uncivilized. We don't use chamber pots anymore either, but that doesn't mean chamber pots were uncivilized. We don't have full-service gas stations, but that doesn't mean self-serve is more civilized. Civilization has existed for thousands of years, and for most of that time hanging (and much worse) has been an acceptable mode of execution. If you argue otherwise, then you're saying that Britain didn't become civilized until sometime around (IIRC) 1960. -- Sean O'Hara | http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com Chuck Norris is not hung like a horse... horses are hung like Chuck Norris. |
#882
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great FunFor Everyone
In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful William December
Starr declared: In article , Sean O'Hara said: In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful Eric Chomko declared: Is hanging Saddam civilized? Unless you wish to argue that civilization began within the last hundred years and has barely spread across Europe, yes. Okay that's a nice trick, but I think you realize that in common usage "civilized," used in a context like this, means "what people in _today's_ local culture -- that of the speaker and listener -- believe to be right, humane, etc." No I don't realize that. That's certainly not how I use the word. -- Sean O'Hara | http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com These people are what social scientists call "wrong." -Jonah Goldberg |
#883
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great FunFor Everyone
In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful Eric Chomko declared:
Fred J. McCall wrote: I know it's hard, but try engaging whatever brain you might have. Now you have resorted in using English as if it were German by throwing the verb at the end of the sentence. Nice Freddy going. This is the sort of nonsense up with which we cannot put. As a general rule, it's perfectly permissible to end an English sentence with a verb, though the specific rules of word-order don't always make it possible -- for example, "Nice Freddy going" is wrong because you place the object before the verb, but "Nice going" with the object implied is perfectly acceptable. -- Sean O'Hara | http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com Gunter: Eureka! The hat goes on the head! It's all so obvious now. -Futurama |
#884
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
Eric Chomko wrote: Is hanging Saddam civilized? Yes. What alternative punishment would _you_ recommend? Being forced to write 100 times "I will not slaughter whole villages again" on a blackboard? Why are we letting them do it? Because giving Saddam truly _just_ punishment for his many crimes is beyond our technology -- we have no way to make someone endure multiple lifetimes of mortal agony. Oh, and also because Iraq happens to be an independent country -- you may remember that we're no longer running an occupation government there. Handed over power more than a year back. Who will stand up and state that it is in fact uncivilized if not us? Why can't we again? Um, because there's nothing particularly uncivilized about it, considering that he is a mass murderer? - Jordan |
#885
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
Eric Chomko wrote: When was the last time someone was hanged as a form of capital punishment? I'm not talking about lynchings in the south and all. I suspect that the last public lynching by hanging in the South happened a much longer time ago than the last capital punishment by means of hanging. The problem with lynchings today is that they are now actually treated as murder by the law, and committing first-degree murder in public is a fairly stupid thing to do for the obvious reasons. - Jordan |
#886
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 01:52:50 -0500, in a place far, far away, Sean
O'Hara made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that: In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful Eric Chomko declared: Sean O'Hara wrote: Unless you wish to argue that civilization began within the last hundred years and has barely spread across Europe, yes. Then why did the US abolish it as a form of capital punishment? As others have pointed out, we haven't. But that's irrelevant. Even if the US had abolished hanging, that wouldn't mean it was uncivilized. We don't use chamber pots anymore either, but that doesn't mean chamber pots were uncivilized. We don't have full-service gas stations, but that doesn't mean self-serve is more civilized. They still do in Oregon, AFAIK. Last time I checked, it was illegal to pump your own there. |
#887
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 02:16:35 -0500, in a place far, far away, Sean
O'Hara made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that: In the Year of the Dog, the Great and Powerful Eric Chomko declared: Fred J. McCall wrote: I know it's hard, but try engaging whatever brain you might have. Now you have resorted in using English as if it were German by throwing the verb at the end of the sentence. Nice Freddy going. This is the sort of nonsense up with which we cannot put. You have to up put with all sorts of nonsense if you don't killfill Eric. Almost every time he posts, he reminds me of that line from Ruthless People: "This could very well be the stupidest person on the face of the earth. Maybe we should shoot him." |
#888
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great Fun For Everyone
"Rand Simberg" wrote in message ... But that's irrelevant. Even if the US had abolished hanging, that wouldn't mean it was uncivilized. We don't use chamber pots anymore either, but that doesn't mean chamber pots were uncivilized. We don't have full-service gas stations, but that doesn't mean self-serve is more civilized. They still do in Oregon, AFAIK. Last time I checked, it was illegal to pump your own there. Same in New Jersey. |
#889
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New CBS TV Series Making Nuclear War Thinkable And Great FunForEveryone
David McMillan wrote in message ... brique wrote: David McMillan wrote in message ... brique wrote: David McMillan wrote in message ... brique wrote: BTR1701 wrote in message ... In article , "brique" wrote: I should worry, it's not my Constitution anyway. That doesn't make any sense. I am not a resident of the USA. Then why should you worry? That's what you wrote, above: "I should worry, it's not my Constitution anyway." I'm assuming you *meant* to write "houldn't" rather than "should," but the way you wrote that line was definitely self-contradictory. Nope, it's pretty standard english were I come from, a colloquial usage (um....probably jewish in origin) : Imagine it said with a shrug of the shoulders 'I should worry'.. meaning.... 'well, its not my problem anyway'. Ahhh, I see. Yeah, I've heard that before. But the intonation really doesn't propagate through UseNet very well, without a footnote. Well, I did all the body language part while I was typing.... I guess the keyboard isn't up to scratch.... oh.....up to scratch..... colloquial..... derived from early bare-fisted boxing matches.... .... though some claim it originates in the game of cricket..... It's not your keyboard, it's your Newsreader client. Microsoft Outlook and other low-end/non-compliant ones don't append XML language.body tags to your posts, which forces posters into exercising greater linguistic literality to compensate for the reduced bandwidth. "Up to scratch" has the advantage of not appearing self-contradictory in contextless print, though, so you probably don't have to worry so much about that one. Still, a bit of additional work should get you past your newsreader's limitations. For example, "I should care? It's not my Constitution" would have conveyed your intended meaning *and* intonation (at least, to people who've heard it before, even if it's not the first thing they think of) clearly, even without body.language tags. Right, so it's Bill Gates fault.. again? |
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