The Hall of Fire

Hello everyone. I have been reading through this book, and my first impression was indeed that the introduction was not done well. I can't imagine recommending this book to anyone unfamiliar with at least the Silmarillion, but really as you guys said, all the works discussed. However, on further ref...

You clearly have not studied the rule against perpetuities*, the bane of every law school student everywhere. ;) Remember, the first thing we did, was get rid of all the lawyers :P, no offense :). I see a ton of problems with it if what you "lost" by showing up second is essential to your...

Who are these "losers?" If no one was using the land, then no one lost the land. If two people noticed the same piece of land no one was using, then yeah I guess the first one there "won" and the second "lost" but I don't see the problem here. I do see a problem with pr...

And I've been having issue with that classic definition for a lot of reasons not least of which is - who told you you could go adding your labor to that raw material in the first place? As I said, that raw material belongs either no one or to everyone. And if it belongs to everyone, well, that answ...

And my question is, why does "society" have any say in the matter? Because almost everything that we call property started out as raw materials in the earth, something that no one created or earned, and therefore belongs to either no one or to everyone. That doesn't actually answer my que...

This is fine, it's a great business opportunity. If you see a community that is being manipulated into only buying one person's food, It would be highly profitable to open a grocery store there, don't you think? And if some entrepreneur doesn't show up to save the community from their legalized sla...

If I legally become the owner of the only source of food for a community, then I can literally make that community do anything I want as long as the law is behind me. They are at that point my slaves. I do not approve of slavery. If there is no legal way for me to obtain a basic subsistence except ...

Yov, as I understand it, you are saying that you can only earn for yourself, you cannot earn for your family? In my mind, the property rights extend to the earning as well as the physical property. In other words, you own your work, and can transfer that to anyone else you like. In effect, when you ...

This is simply a matter of a property rights. When you work the land, you own it. When you die, you transfer those property rights to your heirs. Nothing has changed about who worked the land to own it, it has simply been "sold" to whoever you wanted to sell it to even if the price is 0. I...

I think gene manipulation is an ethical issue, and a tough one at that. Yov, going back to your desire to see a workable solution, the problem with my version of a “free society” is that while we can come up with ways where everything can work, it is very difficult to see how we could get there from...

First of all, I want to say that Nin, I entirely respect your point of view. As I mentioned before, I have religious believes that make me think a utopia is impossible. Similarly, I think that many people have inherently selfish ethical codes, and greed will trump altruism far more often than not. T...

(Hello everyone :) I hope I don’t regret posting this… ) I couldn’t not comment on this thread, as it actually asks the question a class I help teach attempts to answer, and I am in the middle of 10 weeks were this thought is driving me all the time. Lets start at the beginning, what is Government? ...

Missing vison today. US Curling olympic trials this weekend.

Actually, everyone here is in favor of the tactics... they just only like them when their guys use them.

After all, Obama's been holding the country hostage while refusing to negotiate and you guys love him for it.

(see, I can do it too)

And what is his invitation other than a political stunt? Does he think the rest of the house members don't know his position? Does he somehow think to educate them in how to do their job? I thought Republicans have been screaming about wanting Obama to negotiate? He invites them all.. and now that'...

And what is his invitation other than a political stunt? Does he think the rest of the house members don't know his position? Does he somehow think to educate them in how to do their job? This isn't kindergarden. He can't summon the schoolchildren to an assembly where he tells them how things are. B...

Well, now you're just being an... Well you know.

Ah yes... the "good of the country." I guess that depends on what you think is good for the country, doesn't it?

Anyway, it's been fun, but this lunatic is gone for now. Enjoy the echo chamber.

It's astonishing that you are blinded to the fact that while the House has dug in, it is Obama and the Senate that are refusing to negotiate... Quick post - I'm absolute SICK of hearing Republicans/Tea Partiers say that Obama and the Democrats won't come to the table and negotiate. There is NO nego...