Thread: Don't blame Pres. Obama...

I voted for him and given the same choices I would do so again. He inherited a mess and he seems to be out of his depth. He seems to be more interested in Wall Street than Main Street. I'm very disappointed that he is continuing the previous administration's policies in the two wars.

We ought to be out of there IMO. A waste of our people and our resources. Like Nam we will end up leaving, accomplishing nothing but wasting lives and money. Sad that all of these ego freaks that end up in there fall into the same trap. They don't want to be the one to lose the un-winnable war.

As for me I'm not represented by either party. I'm an FDR, Lyndon Johnson kind of democrat. Not the millionaire ilk that is in the house and senate today. They sold us out just like their republican brethren for filthy lucre. Killed the goose that laid the golden egg, the American middle class. That is my take anyhow, YMMV. Believe what you want, it is still sort of a free country. End of rant.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I voted for him and given the same choices I would do so again. He inherited a mess and he seems to be out of his depth. He seems to be more interested in Wall Street than Main Street. I'm very disappointed that he is continuing the previous administration's policies in the two wars.

We ought to be out of there IMO. A waste of our people and our resources. Like Nam we will end up leaving, accomplishing nothing but wasting lives and money. Sad that all of these ego freaks that end up in there fall into the same trap. They don't want to be the one to lose the un-winnable war.

As for me I'm not represented by either party. I'm an FDR, Lyndon Johnson kind of democrat. Not the millionaire ilk that is in the house and senate today. They sold us out just like their republican brethren for filthy lucre. Killed the goose that laid the golden egg, the American middle class. That is my take anyhow, YMMV. It is sort of a free country. End of rant.

Sorry Jimmy. that was only a device to grab attention to my real question which is, do we have free will or are we "meat" robots or maybe there is another option.
I invite all to explore this question with me.

Originally Posted by JMS

Sorry Jimmy. that was only a device to grab attention to my real question which is, do we have free will or are we "meat" robots or maybe there is another option.
I invite all to explore this question with me.

Sorry Mark, I didn't get it. Old timer's disease I guess. I have free will ..... just because the label says Escher I don't have to buy it unless I want to ...... and I usually want to.

Originally Posted by JMS

Sorry Jimmy. that was only a device to grab attention to my real question which is, do we have free will or are we "meat" robots or maybe there is another option.
I invite all to explore this question with me.

I believe that we have what I'd describe (for lack of any kind of term that even gets close) as a structured free will. In this sense, we are agents without the ability to control all of our circumstances, but have the ability to choose otherwise for any given situation. Some choices may be unlikely and unrealistic, but they exist.

$0.02

A genetic study published in a POLITICAL journal and not a MEDICAL journal is not serious. How can political experts be aware if the study was conducted properly and if the methodology is scientifically sound ? Impossible.

There are WAY too many factors to take into account to link your "openess" to 1 cause.

I can link plenty of things to any cause of my liking if I wanted to. For example, my razors rusts when I leave them in the bathroom. Since I use Dove soap & it's in the bathroom at the same time as my razor, I can conclude that Dove causes my razors to rust. If I wanted to publish that, the last journal I'd call would be a scientific one...

Since this seems to be the way the thread is going to go anyway, just a few thoughts to stir the pot.

Originally Posted by Glenn24

A genetic study published in a POLITICAL journal and not a MEDICAL journal is not serious.

This is not a claim that you can make until you have read the original article (and unless you are a good consumer of genetic research yourself). Many studies get accepted for publication in journals that might not be 100% obvious why. Academics looking for tenure and a legacy will take them wherever they can. There are maybe a handful that would be too proud, but most will take a publication in an odd source than no publication

How can political experts be aware if the study was conducted properly and if the methodology is scientifically sound ? Impossible.

Well on that note, who is to say that "experts" will be aware anyway? There are so many flaws in peer reviewed journal articles out there that people have made their entire careers out of fighting back and forth with other researchers about why one or the other doesn't understand some aspect of what they are doing.


There are WAY too many factors to take into account to link your "openess" to 1 cause. Probably true, but have you actually done any research around this? This is the way things usually start, then researchers start trying to focus on likely contributing factors and search for those that account for more of the outcome than others.

I can link plenty of things to any cause of my liking if I wanted to. For example, my razors rusts when I leave them in the bathroom. Since I use Dove soap & it's in the bathroom at the same time as my razor, I can conclude that Dove causes my razors to rust. If I wanted to publish that, the last journal I'd call would be a scientific one...

Unless someone designed a solid experiment with proper scientific measures/procedures and established evidence that the dove soap was contributing to the rust, and eliminated some of the alternative explanations.

It is an amazing thing to watch. everyday ordinary reasonable people suddenly snap their minds shut at the mention of FOX news. its quite an audible snap too. every time i see it I recall an image of my children, fingers in their ears, eyes shut, screaming "NANANANANANANA I CANT HEAR YOU NANANANANANA" as if something bad will get into their brain.

I'll be honest, I didn't even read the story. I just read the headline and lightly perused the article to about the half way point. The article was not the important part. FOX news wasn't the important part. it was the questions I asked that was the important part to this thread...at least to me. So, if you can lay your prejudices aside for the moment and respond to my questions I will appreciate it, otherwise, please don't bother to respond.

I would like to thank JimmyHAD, Delirium, and AFDavis for responding to the question ( even though Jimmy didn't get it at first) without the prejudgment and rancour that came from some of the others.