Bkumm

Ex-Navy, degrees in History and Marketing and Management.
Socially liberal, fiscal conservative.
Just following my own brand of atheistic spiritualism.

" [T]he only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise, or even right... The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign."

John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty"

my website

http://www.bransplace.net/drupal-5.2/

Submitted Comments (115)

Israel Defense Force's VLOG of the UN School Explosion »

• Actually, in the Revolutionary War there were thousands of irregulars fighting all of the time. Many of them were one step away from civilians and ...

  1 hour, 36 minutes ago 0 replies View »

• I didn't say anything about the Hamas charter or whether it was right or wrong. I realize that you may have an agenda to push ...

  1 hour, 58 minutes ago 0 replies View »

• No, I'm not joking. What does Israel bring to the equation for the US? Is there a valid reason for us to be allied with ...

  2 hours ago 0 replies View »

• ******

  10 hours, 39 minutes ago 0 replies View »

• I agree, let's cut through the spin.
  
  It's not about who is the bigger douchebag here. There is plenty of douchebaggery on both ...

  10 hours, 41 minutes ago 2 replies View »

• Or the US could quit propping up Israel and then the Arab/Muslim states could wipe them out. Then peace might finally be attainable.
  
  

  11 hours, 16 minutes ago 2 replies View »

• And what would you call people who break the back of an area with an economic blockade that lasts for years? What would you call ...

  11 hours, 17 minutes ago 5 replies View »

• Are you suggesting that Israel doesn't spin the truth for its own benefit? They have a virtual lockdown on Gaza and control the flow of ...

  11 hours, 19 minutes ago 0 replies View »

• Whether or not you agree or disagree with either position in this mess, I think we have learned that the psyprop doled out by military ...

  11 hours, 22 minutes ago 2 replies View »

Religions are varied and multiple »

• Well, there are traditional Buddhist wedding ceremonies in both China and Japan (and I would assume other "Buddhist" countries). I understand what you're saying though. ...

  10 hours, 32 minutes ago 0 replies View »

• "Keep trying to picture it. It's an European invention."
  
  Do Buddhists not get married? I'm just asking. I'm pretty sure that they do and ...

  12 hours, 13 minutes ago 2 replies View »

• I understand what you're trying to say, but the way you say it is guaranteed to not sway any opinion. Now, that may not be ...

  12 hours, 19 minutes ago 3 replies View »

• "I also had a zen wedding, which was very agreeable - but had no legal validity."
  
  Under U.S. law once you have a marriage ...

  12 hours, 26 minutes ago 3 replies View »

• I am a strong proponent of the multi-verse hypothesis and thus it is impossible for me to think of there being one "god". Each universe ...

  13 hours, 31 minutes ago 9 replies View »

The Not-So-Right Reverend Rick »

• That's not actually what he did. Here's the actual interview if you haven't taken the time other than to knee-jerk like so many other people:
  

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 0 replies View »

• Probably little to none, but the KKIK and the Aryan Nation have every right to march down the street if they see fit.
  
  

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 0 replies View »

• How did then Senator Obama lie about FISA?
  
  As far as I know, Rev. Warren did not compare women to pedophiles and people ...

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 0 replies View »

• Firstly, you have no idea of my sexual status. I happen to be heterosexual, but you wouldn't know that for certain.
  
  Secondly, I ...

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 2 replies View »

• It's true that it isn't entirely inaccurate, but there are many conservative (whatever issue you mean) Democrats and many liberal (depending on the issue) Republicans.

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 0 replies View »

• He's not "throwing gays under the bus". That's like saying he's throwing women under the bus because Warren opposes abortion. That's like saying that Obama ...

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 2 replies View »

• And Republicans are? Ludicrous.
  
  The fact that people can not get behind equality for homosexuals in marriage and every other issue has almost ...

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 3 replies View »

• I wouldn't have had a problem with it, but it isn't comparable. A better comparison would be if McCain had had Christopher Hitchens give the ...

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 6 replies View »

• I think you are badly misunderstanding what I am saying.
  
  It is not because Rick Warren thinks that gay marriage is in the ...

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 6 replies View »

• Thank you.
  
  I think President-elect Obama has a golden opportunity here. He is a relatively new quantity in American politics. While I believe that ...

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 0 replies View »

• While I despise Rick Warren's methods and message, I understand what President Elect Obama is trying to do. And it's something that ONLY he can ...

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 21 replies View »

Christmas Lights - Elvis Presley »

• Merry Christmas, Stoners. Have a great one.

  2 weeks, 1 day ago 0 replies View »

Cake request for 3-year-old Hitler namesake denied »

• I think you'd play hell finding someone under the age of 50 named Adolph (Adolf) in either Germany or Austria.

  2 weeks, 6 days ago 1 reply View »

• Obviously the latter. My point is that a name is just a name. The Hitler part of the kid's name obviously jacks up the whole ...

  2 weeks, 6 days ago 0 replies View »

• I think you're absolutely right.

  3 weeks ago 1 reply View »

• And you're right there. But, would people have the same visceral reaction that they do to the name Adolph Hitler? I don't know about that.

  3 weeks ago 0 replies View »

• I am from a VERY German part of the country. I don't know anyone named Adolph. Well, I take that back, I do know a ...

  3 weeks ago 5 replies View »

• I'm sure you do. And I'm sure a lot of other people do too, but, let's face it, Joe Stalin got a lot better press ...

  3 weeks ago 4 replies View »

• You know, I think the whole thing is sort of, well, stupid. I mean, a name is just a name. Nobody blinks when a kid ...

  3 weeks ago 20 replies View »

Social Security: The Biggest Ponzi Scheme »

• God hates a quitter. LOL>>>
  
  At least that's what I always used to say...before I quit.

  3 weeks ago 0 replies View »

• One other quick point. Most of the First World countries are actually losing population except for immigration. With this being the case, the Social Security ...

  3 weeks ago 0 replies View »

• There are two major problems with this article from a technical standpoint and one major problems with it from an emotional standpoint.
  
  Firstly, ...

  3 weeks ago 0 replies View »

Merry X-MAS: He Whose Name We Dare Not Speak! »

• Yes, kind of and not really. I'm not an agnostic. I'm as close to certainty as I can possibly be that there is "something out ...

  3 weeks, 1 day ago 0 replies View »

• Yeah, I know. It's kinda like that. Which bothers me a bit, but that may be the easiest way to describe it.

  3 weeks, 2 days ago 0 replies View »

• See and that's the problem. It depends on who you ask.
  
  I believe that there are many, many, many paths to "salvation". Whatever ...

  3 weeks, 2 days ago 7 replies View »

• Not really. It's more complicated than that. Someday (I know not when), I'll write it down and post it so everyone can pick it apart ...

  3 weeks, 2 days ago 4 replies View »

• As many of you know, I'm an acknowledged atheistic spiritualist (don't ask me to explain it, it's complicated) and as such I do not believe ...

  3 weeks, 2 days ago 6 replies View »

• It's certainly a belief system and, as with anything that has no proof, it is a matter of "faith". I'm not sure I would go ...

  3 weeks, 2 days ago 0 replies View »

• Dionys,
  You and I generally agree, but Atheism is most certainly not a religion. It has been accepted as a form of belief by ...

  3 weeks, 2 days ago 6 replies View »

• And back in those halcyon days of the monolithic American culture we also had segregated bathrooms, women were paid a third of what men were ...

  3 weeks, 2 days ago 0 replies View »

Just for Jesus »

• I've posted things like this in the past. The ACLU fights for everyone's rights, not just the rights of left wing commie symps.
  
  

  1 month, 1 week ago 0 replies View »

Hate Filled Crazies Get Out-Protested in Oregon »

• And that is how you counter the clowns. Good for the Silvertonians!!!

  1 month, 1 week ago 0 replies View »

Celebrity Bric-a-Brac: The Story of Thanksgiving »

• You know, a person could post this as truth and sadly there are some people who would think it was real.
  
  Funny stuff.

  1 month, 1 week ago 1 reply View »

Man Sees Jesus Image On Shower Wall »

• More proof that God exists. Right?

  1 month, 1 week ago 3 replies View »

DOES GOD EXIST? »

• AWESOME!!!!!

  1 month, 1 week ago 0 replies View »

• If you can drink a couple of liters of slivovice and are still conscious, you ARE god! LOL>>>

  1 month, 1 week ago 1 reply View »

• Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

  1 month, 1 week ago 4 replies View »

• And you can say that again.

  1 month, 1 week ago 0 replies View »

• At least I'd finally get some friggin' sleep.

  1 month, 1 week ago 1 reply View »

• I tried, but all I got was a busy signal.
  
  Maybe the Big Guy doesn't have call waiting.

  1 month, 1 week ago 4 replies View »

• I know you are. We've been to a similar movie. I think Jesus was a pretty good guy too. I just don't buy that he ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 1 reply View »

• It is currently absolute. Whether or not it will remain so is up for debate, but currently there is no empirical evidence of a deity. ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 1 reply View »

• I'm with you there with the God thing.
  
  But, we do have to deal with religion, which is a factor in some of ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 0 replies View »

• He does tend to get up on a soapbox, doesn't he? LOL>>>
  
  Ricky doesn't seem to have a problem with the belief in ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 8 replies View »

• Are you using logic again? I thought we talked about that! LOL>>>

  1 month, 1 week ago 3 replies View »

• Come now, it matters very much what makes one happy.
  
  If a gay man wants to get married in a church, have kids ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 3 replies View »

• "Evidence? The shroud of Turin, bleeding statues, the Bible written by God himself... this is all evidence."
  
  I'm sorry, but most of this is ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 5 replies View »

• From a logical perspective there is neither any evidence for nor against the concept of "God". It is impossible, under the current conditions, to say ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 3 replies View »

New Deal economics - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com »

• By spending the governments money. Which is what the New Deal was all about.

  1 month, 1 week ago 0 replies View »

• Well, we've certainly seen what deregulation does, haven't we?

  1 month, 1 week ago 0 replies View »

• It's an example of value vs. cost, not of technological advantage. Although, that also could be included in value.
  
  Your point was that ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 0 replies View »

• True. Your point?

  1 month, 1 week ago 3 replies View »

• Now, who do you think could regulate something like the credit market? Bob? Smitty? The local CPA?
  
  Come on.

  1 month, 1 week ago 2 replies View »

• Is it? So, then why do people say, "They don't make things like they used to."?
  
  Value, as you are well aware, means ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 2 replies View »

• When one looks at the numbers and takes all things into account the New Deal was an unqualified success.
  
  It was not a ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 7 replies View »

• It is certainly true that being able to borrow money is important. No credible economist is suggesting it isn't. What is more important, however, is ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 4 replies View »

• Value in economic terms, which one could call cost, although there is more to it than that.

  1 month, 1 week ago 4 replies View »

• The recent problem has been that the supply-side folks have continued to pump borrowed capital at the production side of the equation without recognizing that ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 7 replies View »

• The facts are clear. The economy operates as a function of production and consumption (supply and demand). When an economy overproduces there is an excess ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 8 replies View »

FDR- Greatest Modern President »

• No, he didn't.

  1 month, 1 week ago 6 replies View »

• All well and good, but since FDR didn't take us off the fixed gold standard (that was Nixon) your point is pointless.
  
  Even ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 1 reply View »

• I don't know if this link will work, but here are the iconic images produced by Norman Rockwell showing the "Four Freedoms":
  
  

  1 month, 1 week ago 2 replies View »

• No President and no person of power could go far wrong by emulating and trying to accomplish what FDR advocated in his "Four Freedoms" speech:
  

  1 month, 1 week ago 3 replies View »

Where Is Christ In Christmas? »

• This is an interesting piece, but I think it promotes an agenda that has long pervaded the Christian Church. Christianity thrives most when it is ...

  1 month, 1 week ago 7 replies View »