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11-02-05 12:59 PM
Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - - Posts by Arwon
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Arwon

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Posted on 03-15-04 12:35 PM, in What are you listening to? (PARAGRAPH, WITH DETAIL ABOUT THE SONG OR IT'S OVER) Link
Over all, Audioscrobbler tells me that I'm listening to this (in order of most listens):

Augie March
the Smashing Pumpkins
Klezmatics
Talking Heads
Devo
Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire
Modest Mouse
The Aquabats
Radiohead
the blood brothers
The Pixies
The Clash
Weezer
Blur
The Flaming Lips
The B-52's
XTC
Violent Femmes
Swans


Right now, though, I'm listening to Barikadn by Klezmatics.

Klezmatics are a Jewish Klezmer band - Yiddish and English, an amazing blend of traditional Klezmery stuff (accordions and flutes and folksy little breakdowns) and clevernessadditions (such as the Gospelish background singers in "I Ain't Afraid").

Quite unique, quite amazing.

Barikadn is an adaption of a 1948 recording of a Yiddish revolutionary Socialist song - "Tates, mames, kinderlekh, boyen barikadn. Oyf di gasn geyen arum, arbeter-otryadn"
(Fathers, mothers, children, are building baricades. Detachments march along the streets, workers on parade)


(edited by Arwon on 03-15-04 03:42 AM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-15-04 12:55 PM, in Your religious beliefs Link
1. I was born Catholic. Census says I still am.

2. Cannibalism of the savior, apparently.

3. Bigger hats.

4. I've been an atheist for as long as I can remember. Even as a 6 year old I never believed in God, and probably got into juvenile little arguments with kids who did.

I don't believe in God. I just don't see or feel It in the universe. Some people are colorblind and look at a sunset and don't see red. I look at the world and don't see God at work. I don't think I have an especially rigid rationalist view - "if you can't prove it it ain't there" or anything like that... I just don't believe and have never had any reason to.

I also believe, more generally, that everyone is right. And that everyone is wrong.

How bloody Zen of me.


(edited by Arwon on 03-15-04 04:00 AM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-16-04 10:23 AM, in Your political beliefs Link
I'll be voting Green in the local and federal elections due this year. My views aren't quite what that would imply, but whatever.

And as for "Socialism has never worked" - don't make me hit you over the head with Labour Parties. Or with Sweden, for that matter.


(edited by Arwon on 03-16-04 01:26 AM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-17-04 03:11 PM, in Gay Marriage (again) Link
How the hell is homosexuality "Against the laws of nature" when it's been found all over the animal kingdom? There's Gay goose couples and lifelong same sex penguin partnerships and all sorts of boy-on-boy buttsex!

And as for Christianity finding it an abommination... doesn't the bible say in the Book of Numbers "Nothing I have created is unclean"?


(edited by Arwon on 03-17-04 06:12 AM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-17-04 03:17 PM, in Trains and Public Transportation, again. Link
Originally posted by Shiieru
What is public transport like in the US, anyway?


Amtrak (the long distant train network) is godawful, but the city busses are pretty decent as are many urban subway/train systems. Some are crap. It depends on the city.

As for here in NSW... State Rail is in crisis, not enough drivers or money, lots of delays, it's all a mess. The busses in Sydney are smooth and efficient as far as I can tell, though. They'd better be. Once I move up there I'll be relying on them completely.
Arwon

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Posted on 03-17-04 03:26 PM, in Your political beliefs Link
Originally posted by EvillerLegion
Last I checked the Queen is an official figure head without power


You probably wouldn't say that if you lived in Australia.

In 1975, the Governor General of Australia (the Queen's representative) stepped in and dismissed the Whitlam Labour government and parliament in responce to a blockage in the senate, calling new elections. Thankfully, no serious turmoil ensued but it possibly could have.

This is generally seen as the serious birth of the republican movement in this country - the humiliating reminder of our place in the world, and of a serious flaw in our system. The Queen might be practically powerless and reform isn't urgent or anything, but at the end of the day she is still foreign and I look forward to the day when Australia has an Australian as head of state.

And besides, if you read the Australian constitution (and I imagine Canada isn't much different with respect to the position's powers) the Governor General has practically dictatorial powers - they are the commander in chief of the armed forces, they can dismiss and appoint governments and cabinets, veto bills from the parliament... it's only unwritten tradition that makes the G-G such a figurehead.

Interesting how we have such a different view of our Contitutional Monarchy status than New Zealand and Canada - the republican view is much stronger and more serious I guess.
Arwon

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Posted on 03-18-04 07:00 AM, in Your political beliefs Link
Pictures of the queen?

Wow. That seems very very weird.

We recently scrubbed her from the $5 note for some reason... now she's just on the coinage.

But then, you guys were a regular imperial holding, not a series of penal colonies... very different starting points.


(edited by Arwon on 03-17-04 10:02 PM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-18-04 08:17 AM, in Gay Marriage (again) Link
-Taxation
-Divorce protections
-Automatic inheritance rights
-Visitation of partner in hospital or prison
-Visitation of partner's children in hospital or prison
-Immunity from testifying against spouse
-Domestic violence protection
-Immigration
-Joint custody
-Joint adoption and foster care of existing children of the parties
-Joint parenting
-Joint insurance
-Medical decisions on behalf of partner
-Medical insurance family coverage
-Sick leave to care for partner
-Bereavement leave
-Wrongful death benefits
-Burial determination
-Assumption of spouse's pension
-Access to partner's superannuation

This is the inequality, here. This is the discrimination, here. This is where the horrible discriminatory things happen to gay couples - not being allowed access to their lovers in hospital because the state doesn't recognise them as having any link to them. Parents over-ruling the wishes of a hospitalised or dead partner becuase they don't have "next of kin" status. Lack of access to joint taxation and insurance, inability to take joint custody of existing children.
Any sensible person must be able to see that these things are not right.

This is the nuts and bolts of why we need gay marirage or civil unions. So people like Kasumi and Lucrecia can, if they choose, enter into a binding partnership with these benefits and responsibilities. For security, and permenance, and for legal recognistion. And because, dammit, it's fair and right.

The cultural "it's destroying marriage" stuff... the "marriage is a sacred institution" stuff, and the Christian "homosexuality is a sin" stuff... all these things are secondary and unimportant to the core issues at stake here. These other issues are irrelevant. We're talking about the functioning of secular states and their legal systems here, nothing more. Christianity is IRRELEVANT. Ickiness is IRRELEVANT.
No-one is asking churches to recognise gays as equals. Some do, some don't. That's their perogative as institutions functioning outside the State. No-one is asking anyone in the Christian Right to throw big parades celebrating gay marriages, or expecting that people will stop viewing gay sex as ICKY. These other things are IRRELEVANT.

The prime goal is to secure equality in these above listed areas and other similar ones - to get rid of discrimination, and to stop people being treated as second class citizens for such a silly reason as genetalia.


(edited by Arwon on 03-17-04 11:23 PM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-18-04 01:26 PM, in Gay Marriage (again) Link
Originally posted by Legion
This is my "non-religious" aspect of it: Read this short article.

What I find funny discussing this with people who support gay marriage is that they seem to think it won't open the door to incestful marriage, etc. And when I ask why they say "Because incest is considered taboo by society. You have to draw the line somewhere."

I say we did. At man and women only. Gay marriage is considered taboo by the majority of the U.S. population. But gays are breaking "the line". So how are you going to say no when the person who wants a "taboo" marriage decides its time to redefine marriage again?

What people have got to come to understand is that many of these people and their "groups" have no concept of reality, don't care about reality, don't care about the consequences of their actions, don't care what they will cost the others around them.

The only way to deal with it is to oppose their movements, political agendas, etc.

You can't argue reason with someone who doens't care about the reality of their actions, you can't argue morality with a person who is focused on immediate self gratification regardless of the consequences.

Next thing you know they'll all want rights to adopt. If you know anything about psychology and/or developmental psychology then you know the effects of not having two gender parents for role models can have.

Kiwi, non-religious men and women who get married aren't breaking any rules when it comes to marriage.


No, that's called a straw man. And a slippery slope for that matter.

And willfully bloody stupid.

Incest brings in genetic issues and protection issues - and isn't universally illegal anyway, nor probably should be even if it is squicky. Pedophilia brings in issues of age of consent and protecting youngins. Bestiality involves nonhumans and is a whole other legal ballgame. The ramifications of multiple partnership contracts are a legal nightmare and too difficult and exploitable.

Same-sex partnerships, between a pair of consenting adult human beings, however, are a matter of equality, and nowhere near the same league as these other things.

And besides, it's not like EVERY denomination, church, clergyman and individual Christian opposes gay marriage. You don't speak for all of your co-religionists. There's plenty of thinking Christians whose views are very different from yours. Christianity and the Bible is not incompatable with man-on-man butt sex and gay marriage. i mean, Christ, have you read some of the insanity in the book of Leviticus? Slaves and stonings and burnt offerings!?


(edited by Arwon on 03-18-04 04:37 AM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-18-04 02:56 PM, in Gay Marriage (again) Link
I can't answer for her as to why it bothers her, but I'll hazard a guess:

It migt bother her because (this is why it bothers me at least) you and others are talking about "holiness" and "sin" and other such things, focussing only on high-blown, irrelevant religious rhetoric which obscures the real nuts and bolts issues at stake here.

i.e. the list I posted earlier, which was totally ignored... possibly because it's fucking hard to argue that some pairs of adult human beings in love should not have the same rights and protections and privileges as other adult pairs:

-Taxation
-Divorce protections
-Automatic inheritance rights
-Visitation of partner in hospital or prison
-Visitation of partner's children in hospital or prison
-Immunity from testifying against spouse
-Domestic violence protection
-Immigration
-Joint custody
-Joint adoption and foster care of existing children of the parties
-Joint parenting
-Joint insurance
-Medical decisions on behalf of partner
-Medical insurance family coverage
-Sick leave to care for partner
-Bereavement leave
-Wrongful death benefits
-Burial determination
-Assumption of spouse's pension
-Access to partner's superannuation

And probably some other stuff I'm forgetting.

Extending marriage to homosexuals would be the easiest, most thorough, and most effective way to ensure equality and justice in these areas. Civil Unions could work but would have to be coordinated at all levels of government, rather than just being state-based or federal-based.

No-one's trying to destroy your precious "sanctity of marriage" here, or undermine your faith. For many people, straight and gay, the religious aspects of marriage aren't even an issue. Times change. We eat meat on Fridays. Your "holy union" interpretation is not the only one.
It's about LOVE, and about LAW, not GOD. It's about protecting that love the same way, whether it's between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and a man. Or any other iterations, which I'm missing here.


(edited by Arwon on 03-18-04 05:58 AM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-18-04 03:02 PM, in Are The Get Up Kids considered emo? Link
Yes.
Arwon

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Posted on 03-18-04 03:06 PM, in Gay Marriage (again) Link
OK, then what the hell does it matter if it's called "marriage" or "civil union" then? As we've established, not everyone views marriage in the same way - there's a secular and a spiritual side to it. Governemnts can only legislate on the secular side, and so, the religious arguments are basically irrelevant here.

As far as the secular aspect of marriage (the only part governments can legislate on) goes, the term "marriage" would make it a lot harder for recalcitrant states and courts and insurance companies and other people, to weasel out of actually treating same-sex and opposite-sex couples equally. Sine legislation is very different to implementation.


(edited by Arwon on 03-18-04 06:09 AM)
(edited by Arwon on 03-18-04 06:11 AM)
(edited by Arwon on 03-18-04 06:14 AM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-18-04 03:12 PM, in Gay Marriage (again) Link
Chibi: This message board problem is called "Dysfractionation". Well, at least, at one board I frequent, it is.


(edited by Arwon on 03-18-04 06:12 AM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-18-04 04:04 PM, in Are The Get Up Kids considered emo? Link
Man, I remember when the word "emo" was a joke term, only ever used in an ironic, sarcastic way. Now it's an accepted, actual music genre. What the hell happened?
Arwon

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Posted on 03-19-04 07:56 AM, in Your political beliefs Link
I'm definately not arguing against monarchy in European and other countries because it obviously works fine in Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, etc. Hell, even here, the situation is tolerable... it's just far from ideal.

It's just that, it's a bit different for Australia compared to other constitutional monarchies for two reasons. Firstly, our monarch is a foreign national who lives on the other side of the world and doesn't really know much of anything about Australia.
And secondly, her appointed representative here has actually screwed around with our government before in most controversial circumstances - showing that the system is flawed.


(edited by Arwon on 03-18-04 10:57 PM)
Arwon

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Posted on 03-20-04 10:22 AM, in Gay Marriage (again) Link
...then there's the point of view that Christianity started as a radical Jewish sect that got popular.
Arwon

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Posted on 03-20-04 10:25 AM, in New york city is actually pretty damn cool Link
I want to live there for a while.

Also Sydney and Barcelona and Prague and a few other places.
Arwon

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Posted on 03-20-04 10:45 AM, in Dance Music Link
Hehehe.

Depends what you call "dance music". I'm not too fond of most elctronic music, really. I like things more organic.

So, I choose to willfully misunderstand and take the word "dance" literally.

I saw the B-52's lie recently. That was SUPAR DANCE PARTY TO THE MAX! Amazing fun. "Knock a little louder, Sydney!"

I like "dance-punk" type stuff like the Moving Units, !!!, the Rapture, etc.

Hell, Lightning Bolt's Drummer and effects-pedal-laden Bass Guitar rock assault has a certain savage rhythmic dancability to it.
Arwon

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Posted on 03-20-04 10:46 AM, in Musical Guilty Pleasures Link
Originally posted by merc
I'm not ashamed of any of my music, but some people despise these greatly:

...
Blood Brothers
...



Those people are FOOLS! FOOLS I TELL YOU.


Um. I like Prince. And the Village People.
Arwon

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Posted on 03-20-04 10:59 AM, in Musical Guilty Pleasures Link
In the Navy and YMCA

Surely you have heard them.
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