IntenseDebate - MichaelBingham

16 years ago @ Concrete Academic - The Industrial Revolut... · 0 replies · +1 points

And that's exactly what it is, "planned obsolescence." I was listening to NPR the other day and they were saying that over the past ten to fifteen years, companies have departments and committees devoted to "planned obsolescence. " The automobile industry...the computer industry...the wireless phone industry especially. People who sit down and decide which parts / products / pieces of equipment they will design to have a short life-span or become antiquated so they can sell more stuff to the same consumers.

16 years ago @ Concrete Academic - The Industrial Revolut... · 0 replies · +2 points

You know what this article reminds me of? That time you got rid of your economy car and bought that 1960's Cadillac...I remember saying "Jeff...this car is cooler than the other side of the pillow, but is it practical?" You said "Practical?! Ask yourself this...how many people who have practical cars want a classic Caddy...then ask yourself how many people with classic Cadillacs want a Nissan Sentra. Yeah, that's what I thought..."
ROFL

16 years ago @ Concrete Academic - Bibles and Bullets: Th... · 0 replies · +1 points

Yeah, I get you. However the good doctor's questions, and even his acknowledgements show a very ignorant position. Whether or not this ignorance is genuine or intentional isn't for me to say directly. What he is choosing to ignore is the fact that the Church is as much of the problem as anything. The Church is militaristic. It isn't that it just happened to fall in league with belligerent factions. Popes had their own armies. Priests and preachers alike pray for troops all the time. The Church gained monetarily from imperialism, colonialism and slavery as much as anybody, and still does. When Dr. Bush says that mission must renounce militarism, I wonder if he realizes that for this to happen really, mission has to reject the Church itself.

16 years ago @ Concrete Academic - Bibles and Bullets: Th... · 0 replies · +1 points

LOL! Judging by your reply, I bet Peanuts comics are brain food for you. Do better.

16 years ago @ Concrete Academic - Bibles and Bullets: Th... · 0 replies · +1 points

You know what kept popping into my head while I was writing this? "The Rape of the American Frontier"...I kept hearing "They saw them coming, but they didn't close the door...", and that ominus chorus: "...but God was on their side...God was on their side!" Great lyrics. Who was the guy that wrote that song? Seems like his name was "Sterling" or something...

16 years ago @ Concrete Academic - The New Mysticism · 0 replies · +1 points

Uh, you do realize that Vlad is not anywhere close to being atheist, right? Besides that, he probably is one of the most open-minded people I know. He just hates it when Christianity is "watered down" to make it appeal to broader base. Christianity has to stand for SOMETHING, or as we've seen, so--called Christians will fall for anything.

16 years ago @ Concrete Academic - Concrete Academia · 0 replies · +1 points

I was wondering when you were going to catch that...(lol)

16 years ago @ Concrete Academic - A Response to "Invocat... · 0 replies · +1 points

Response #8 -- Conclusion
This song was extremely popular last year, and has been remixed at least 6-7 times that I know of. Not to digress too much, but the African-American obsession with glorifying criminal activity made this song hot on several radio stations, including the one where Fred Haynes does his weekly radio show. It is from this song that he got the "swagger like us" line. Why did he use it? Because he knew that there would be a large number of people present that liked the song and its message. So even though he was supposed to be praying to the Holiest of Holies, he opted to get cheers from the crowd by calling to mind a song that tells of the exploits of a murderous, drug-dealing, stick-up artist...and he was successful. This is why I say with immutable, irrefutable evidence that he was doing nothing but pandering to the crowd.

16 years ago @ Concrete Academic - A Response to "Invocat... · 0 replies · +1 points

Response #7 -- More song lyrics and explanation:
"No one on the corner has swagger like us
Hit me on my burner, prepaid wireless
We pack and deliver like UPS trucks
Already going to hell just pumping that gas"
-Her crew has swagger, which in this context is pride in the menacing presence that all too many criminals manifest in urban communities. "Hit me on my burner, prepaid wireless" refers to the fact that drug dealers use prepaid cell phones called "burners" and throw them away after the minutes are used up. If by chance a cop gets a suspected drug dealer's phone number they have to go through the time, trouble and legality of getting authorization for a wire tap on that number. However, by the time this process is complete, the wire tap is useless because the phone has been thrown away and the dealer is using another "burner". The lines "We pack and deliver like UPS trucks, already going to hell just pumping that gas" are pretty easy too...they are packing and moving so much drugs it's like they are a shipping company...by the way, they realize they are doomed, but they "pump the gas" anyway.

16 years ago @ Concrete Academic - A Response to "Invocat... · 0 replies · +1 points

Response #6 -- More song lyrics:
"Some, some, some I, some I murder
Some, I some I let go
Some, some, some I, some I murder
Some, I some I let go"
-This is pretty self-explanatory, depending on how she feels, sometimes she'll murder a robbery victim, sometimes she'll let them go.

"Pirate skulls and bones
Sticks and stones and weed and bombs
Running when we hit them
Lethal poison through their system"
-This artist's logo is a skull and bones (you see it in the video to the song) "Lethal poison through their system" is a reference to selling heroin.

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