I'm not sure he's not being serious. Government has been known to engage in cover ups of minor crimes, mistakes, or incompetence, i.e. the error is supported by the government, and as has been often said, it is the cover up that gets people sent to prison.

Sulfuric acid is sulfuric acid, no matter where it comes from. Man can absolutely affect environment on a local scale. That's why I use my flush toilet and not an outhouse. Globally, man is like a flea on a dog. We may cause it a little discomfort but we're not going to kill it. It's always best not to have an irritated dog around though.

As a matter of fact, Waffler, acid rain is inevitable. Volcanic activity spews out many times the amount of sulfer dioxide than man does. Polluted water in many places in the world are inevitable. For example, in Bangladesh the occurrence of cancerous tumors caused by arsenic is much higher than almost any other place in the world. The arsenic occurs naturally in Bangladeshi groundwater (as it does in some places in the American southwest by the way). It is just luck of the draw and they drew poorly. The world is full of naturally occurring pollutants. Should we take a dump in our own cornflake bowl? Of course not, but carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It is part of the natural carbon cycle that means life on earth. That carbon in the ground came from somewhere and that somewhere is organic. Perhaps a few hundred ppm more of carbon dioxide would turn the world into a lush, tropical paradise, perfect for my retirement years. More likely though, it would have very little effect at all since the data show that increase in carbon dioxide follows increase in temperature. It is an indicator of temperature increase that has already happened because of variations in the big ball of fire in the sky called the Sun.

Truth is beyond human influence. It exists with or without any man. Our conscience resides in us and is a guide to revealing truth to us but, being human, it is imperfect as well for the very reason Robert describes. We can only see our own perspective. So, it is reasonable to consider others' views to get as complete a picture as possible. The conscience must be free to choose however, and coercion of conscience has no place in a free society.

Social Darwinism in action.

Truth will force itself upon you eventually. It cannot be denied forever. It's grasp will not always be gentle either. It will grab you, give you a slap in the face that is just hard enough to wake you up. Some people just need a good, hard slap.

We have been in the grasp of climate change for as long as there has been a climate. Get ready for the coming ice age. Oh, wait! Is it warming now? Cooling is so 1970's. No, wait! The global temperature has been going down since 1998. So, that means the earth is cooling, right? Nooooo....that means the earth is warming but in an especially dangerous way. It's not illusions that we have to worry about, it's the delusions and raving lunacy of leftists.

Truth is not reached by consensus, it either is or is not. If the truth is denied it will eventually become the painful truth and then it cannot be denied. Governments from time to time try to circumvent the law of supply and demand, but deny it long enough and the entire economy will collapse and create undeniable pain for everyone.

T. Boone Pickens and Al Gore know how to make a buck, and that's the truth.

Man with his imperfect nature can only perceive a shadow of ultimate truth. All truth that man deals with is only an approximation of reality. That does not mean there is not Truth, but only that we do not have the capability to see it with the senses that we have. It is our purpose to continue to seek the ultimate Truth even though we may never fully comprehend it. The story of Moses on Sinai being giving the ten commandments is an allegory of this. Moses in his imperfection could not look at the face of God (ultimate Truth) and would die if he did but he was given an imperfect truth in the tablets of the ten commandments. Relativists would have us believe there is no ultimate truth and that we each create our own reality; our own right and wrong. They have simply given up seeking for truth either because they don't want to expend the effort or they know truth would conflict with their desires.

I agree wholeheartedly, Ken from Milford. Very well put. Everything man touches, including religion, is a two edged sword and can be perverted to evil use. Religion is in large part responsible for civilization. It has also been used to justify the bloodiest wars.

Waffler, I was just trying to get into the atheistic mindset with the 'fictitious non-entity' phrase; thus the quote. I have known people who have believed in various faiths including everything from Christian to pagan and many others. I think all of them, including atheism, involve some element of faith and therefore they give an emotional response when something challenges their belief The only people I have known who don't really give that kind of response are agnostics who simply acknowledge that they don't know if there is or is not a God. I think you are very close to the mark in the observation that God is the embodiment of liberty and freedom. I would add justice as well.

By the way, Robert. I am curious why a 'fictitious non-entity' would cause you so much consternation. Do you have the same reaction to Zeus in the Greek classics? You wouldn't be trying to proselytize atheism would you?

Those who have a crown got it because they were ruffians, and like a mafia protection racket, live off the production of honest men. Who is more valuable to society: the shopkeeper or the thief?

Reason is the fabled "common sense" that is so uncommon. A knowledge of history, experience and learning from personal failure, and the willingness to look at things objectively are all necessary to the proper application of reason. Many are so adamant in their errors because their own minds are clouded by emotional rather than rational thought. Emotions are terrific for things that require an emotional response. Emotion leads to foolish decisions when things require a rational response.

Groucho must have known a politician or two.

I can. I have just about everything I want. If I wanted it, I'd buy it; but I don't. That is the key to a living debt free, and when you are debt free you are no one's slave. Never getting enough of what you don't need leads to your own bondage.

In this age of ever increasing specialization we know more and more about less and less until we know absolutely everything about nothing at all.

That susceptibility is not exclusively modern. Human beings, by nature, are a dichotomy unto themselves. In a large enough group we tend to behave like herds of thoughtless beasts being driven here or there for no particular reason at all. Left alone we start to think and behave as free men exercising our own logic to reason out the truth for ourselves. Perhaps that is why I prefer solitude and don't care to join parties or associations.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

I disagree. The house of delusions is very expensive to those who have to pay for them. The builders, however, do the building on someone else's dime and seldom actually live in those houses themselves.

So, we're all just honing each others' skills of reason, rhetoric, and argument. I think you're all very beneficial as long as you don't give me a stroke. As the saying goes, dose makes the poison.

There is very little cost and great benefit to admitting a mistake. The mistake has already been made and the consequences are coming regardless. You might as well admit to your poor choices and maybe prevent someone else from making them again.

Those genuine historical morsels are so rare because those who control the story morph and twist history to their own liking. Even an eye witness to an historical event, with enough work, can be made to believe he really didn't see what he saw with his own eyes. "HISTORY, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools."---Ambrose Bierce.

The occupation of a scientist is to question everything, always. Every scientific theory or model is only an approximation of reality (think of Plato's Theory of Forms). Some models are closer to reality than others, but the science is never settled; and when data directly contradicts the model, it is the model that is wrong.