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Comment Re:Will that there engine fit in my '79 Firebird? (Score 1) 262

I think we're arguing on different topics and that, as a whole, we don't necessarily disagree. I stated that Jesus never commanded his people to help via government programs. I also stated that people who invest themselves in helping people directly are far more impactful than people who simply pay taxes.

I don't see an objection to either of my points. Instead, you seem to imply that someone paying taxes is far more effective than someone giving money to charity. The example you give here is alms to the poor. That's really reaching for the worst possible example of charity. After all, it was a practice that more or less transformed into a mechanism whereby the ruling class could keep the poor completely destitute - promoted by the church and handily adopted by the government (though the two weren't altogether separate at the time).

I think that there are far more effective charitable endeavors. Evidently, so does the US Gverment who provides funding for a vast number of charities because it believes they are better prepared to address problems at the local level.

All that aside, this point isn't really germane as I'm talking about helping people directly - not necessarily via a charity. Quite a bit apart from what you think I'm saying, I don't think that helping people directly has to be exclusive of paying taxes. I simply believe that those who help directly (help - not hurt as was part of the alms program) can have a greater impact. Don't get me wrong, I see what you are saying - the government allows resources of a great many to be combined; creating substantial impact in a broad area. I don't think it manifests itself the same way at the individual level. There is a family here that has taken in numerous teens that would have otherwise been homeless (in spite of government programs designed to help them). They have raised them as their own and seen most of them off to healthy adult lives. I'd gather that these people have had far more impact on their community than those of their neighbors who simply pay their taxes in full each year. Imagine if the whole world was full of people like this...

It isn't, thus the need for government intervention, but hopefully you now see where I'm coming from when I refer to the impact that an individual can make by directly helping their neighbors.

Comment Re:Will that there engine fit in my '79 Firebird? (Score 1, Insightful) 262

No - the incorrect assumption is that you can't help people without doing so via the government. I'm not a Christian, but I've spent a significant amount of time studying the teachings the Bible purports to be his (in a collegiate setting). I don't recall Jesus or his disciples ever telling their followers to petition their government to enact laws to help people. They told their followers to help people directly.

Most Christians don't follow that teaching either, but those who do are far more impactful than any of us who simply pay taxes and figure we've done our part.

Comment Re:Really? (Score 5, Insightful) 957

People like you amuse me. When someone criticizes a non-Christian religion you respond with "Well, the Bible is bad too..."

Why do you feel that everyone that criticizes a non-Judeo-Chrisitian religion must be a Judeo-Christian? Couldn't it be possible, for example, that a person who rejects Islam because of it's seemingly violent nature rejects Judeo-Christianity for the same reason?

Comment Re:So many problems... (Score 4, Informative) 64

According to TFA you can still install Chrome from the Play store (which is what most Android users do since Chrome is not installed by default on most Android devices). The one thing Chrome users with the Intel chip will lack is hardware accelerated page rendering.

I'm not sold on this chip, but I do like to see competition in the mobile CPU segment.

Comment Re:Fox news (Score 1) 326

Ah...that's it. Then I wonder why the Dems didn't do something about this during the first 2 years of the Obama administration. Oh, and Obama was going to do something about the PATRIOT Act as well. Did that ever happen? I guess you can call signing an extension of three key provisions of the act in 2011 doing something.

I prefer Obama's platform this year because he's pro-choice, supports gay marriage, and actually realizes that we have to increase revenue (along with cutting unnecessary spending) to get our national debt under control.

Still, when it comes to advancing the police state, it seems he's no better than the alternative.

Comment Re:Why go thin? (Score 1) 1052

I'm not against the case phenomenon. I understand that people want to personalize their phone. There are lots of iPhones out there and a number of people want theirs to look different and thus, install a case. I'm completely fine with that. I just feel that the phone shouldn't require a case to hold up to daily use.

Comment Re:Compared to 128x768 on the new BlackBerry (Score 1) 1052

Screen resolution isn't going to fix BlackBerry. You could give it the highest resolution ever and it would still suck. I say this as a user who uses Android ICS, iOS, and BlackBerry devices every day. Granted, BB 10 might introduce some really cool stuff that allows it to compete with the iPhone 5, but higher resolution isn't it.

Comment Re:Why go thin? (Score 1) 1052

This. I would prefer products built tough enough to not require a case (perhaps just a thin film on front and back). I don't own an iPhone, but I'll admit they are beautiful. It seems a waste that almost every one of them I see (outside the store) is in some ugly rubber case. My wife tried to live with a 'naked' iPhone. After two broken screens she put on one of those awful cases. So sad. A product like a phone should stand up to normal, daily use.

Comment Re:LTE (Score 1) 279

The US has 9.8 million square kilometers to cover. I believe that equates to a little less area than 100 Icelands.

The cost/benefit of covering all that area with broadband covereage just doesn't hold up - unless you feel broadband is a right and think cost shouldn't come into play. The US obviously doesn't feel that way (for better or worse).

I'm not trying to argue any particular point of view - I'm just pointing out the massive scale of building out infrastructure for a country the size of the US. Yes, the country undertook some pretty massive infrastructure projects in the past, but that was when labor was cheap and people's lives had little value.

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