Karl

He certainly won't be shy of telling me....;-)

I disagree, that is a pragmatic ideology and subjectivist in the extreme. To go through life based on a lie is to refute life completely. It is to hide, to evade, to simply give up in an attempt to get through life by refusing to think. I would say that isn't a good, it is anti-life and therefore evil.

So many potential conceptual integrations making inductive leaps of creativity. I never cease wanting to improve my mind.

Holst-Jupiter is uplifting, or the overture to Mozarts Marriage of Figaro. Can't beat Abba-dancing queen and James-sit down and the proclaimers- I would walk 500 miles

Germany have always had that mentality. It is the nation from which came the philosophies of Kant, Hegel and Marx. They believe in pragmatic scientism. Essentially every problem can be solved by the application of science in an experimental way. Thus, if one method fails, then maybe another method will work. They have an overarching belief in this philosophy to the extent that people are regarded by them as essentially a commodity. It isn't that far removed from Marx and Engels, which is why Nazi Germany was founded on National Socialism. Where the USSR had one version of socialism which was failing, the Nazi government thought that a pragmatic change to the economic system would correct that issue. They have never managed to get over that philosophy and it has been adopted across the west, just as the Prussian system of education was adopted. Brussels are the German management class.

That's really what the USSR did after the war, it soaked up a lot of Eastern European states and Germany had precisely the same goal. We should campaign to allow Russia to be part of the EU- then watch the USA have a galactic freak out.

Try a sofa then.

Alley cat stylee. I'm only faster when I'm on the bike and then only a bit faster.

I'm more three toed sloth.

Well said angry gorilla.

I don't have fellow animals. I have fellow human beings. Animals are a resource.

They are perceptual thinkers not conceptual thinkers. Therefore they experience pain and pleasure, they have perceptual skill sets so of course they can of course overcome problems, but they aren't anything like humans. Animals don't have to choose life as a value as a primary value as humans do, they don't need to plan for the future, they don't have the choice of altering their environment because that is a conceptual ability. If they run out of food, then they must move to somewhere where food can be found. They are quite capable of perceptual thought and strategy when hunting, they certainly aren't robots. Rand explains the difference from a mathematical perspective. Humans and animals are both limited by the number and variety of perceptions that they can cope with at any one time. In NLP training it was commonly accepted that we, as humans, can manage around 7 things at once. Beyond nine things we can't cope, so, humans have developed concepts in order that we can essentially go through maths (perceptual concretes) into Algebra (conceptual abstracts). Animals lack this faculty they can cope with the maths, but can't do algebra. Their world is all concretes, all perceptual. That means both memory and dreams are entirely functional in that realm, but not beyond it. The abstract conceptual mind allows us to hold a concept which has some value, but no specific value until we reapply it to the perceptual world as a mathematical concrete. Leopards, as an example perceptually count. They don't hold the abstract of number, so they are limited to say; car plus 4 occupants. Now, if a leopard sees this quantity drive past it once, then a second time and the number stays consistent, then it stays calm, but, say the car is minus one person, then it goes on high alert. It knows the number has changed and as it cannot have a concept 'different car' 'passenger dropped off at lodge' then it thinks it is being hunted.

What ? Who's the best is a national obsession along with top tens. Got to be done.

Hendrix by a country mile as a rock guitarist. I doubt anyone will ever come close. Prince uses many of his licks...well most guitarists do. There is a story that Clapton, Page and Beck considered themselves to be the best and were always trying to outdo one another. When they heard about Hendrix they decided to go and see what all the fuss was about and see how he measured up to their prowess. After one spectacular solo from Hendrix they realised who the master was. It wasn't really Hendrix's technical ability-good though it was-it was the sheer musicality, innovation and creativity that was conjured up and the ease with which it was delivered. Prince plows a similar furrow, but well in the shadows of a great.

To cope with his hip pain ?

Sometimes I do wonder if you are just piss taking. At least I could have a laugh with you. I haven't forgotten that you have wriggled out of arguing your case in the previous postings. Distraction technique ?

You mean you were experiencing an unnamed 'something' which you later integrated together with a piece of work written by someone else which you now relate to as the Tao.

They're is a sense in arguing if you can prove that your right Ralis. I have no issue accepting factual, objective argument if you can offer it. You decline then throw in an ad hominem and flounce off. It's really weak to act that way and you learn nothing. I can give you facts dates and back history of some of the greatest market entrepreneurs and the government backed men they fought agains-and eventually lost to. Men like James Hill, Rockefeller and Vanderbilt who carved away at the costs and prices their customers paid and produced wealth for everyone. I don't know who else is interested in economic history though, I suspect it's limited to us few. Well Tao is a philosophers theory Ralis. You wouldn't know about it had a man not thought it and another committed it to paper for you to read. Everything is part of nature. Nice picture by the way. I love to walk and climb in Scotland and the Lake District. I've spent a short time walking in the USA-the arches, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite and the sequoia woods. Loved it.

Ah the good old perjorative 'robber barons' but, just as socialists insist on calling free market capitalism a failure despite the fact it's their actions that have helped create the current twisted version (crony capitalism), so they do so historically. There were most definitely Robber Barons, but you fail to make the distinction between market and political entrepreneurs. It was the political entrepreneurs that were using government clout and subsidies to fill their pockets and the pockets of the politicians who had assisted them. Not that you care much for history or facts when you are pushing your socialist agenda, but if you care to explore the subject you will discover it is true. Later Robber Barons convinced the Government to clamp down on competition which they proposed was 'inefficient duplication of effort' and thus began a long series of measures designed to effectively nationalise the big businesses in order that they enjoy all the profits but little risk. It wasn't long before the Labour unions realised how this worked to their advantage and began their own efforts to protect he workforce in these big businesses from competitive elements. So was born the fore runner to the crony capitalism we have today and is stagnation and political corruption that has turned into the two horse spectacle in us democracy. You are quite correct about the Tao if you are talking Confucianism. In fact it is likely that it was the virtues of Confucianism that made Maoist communism so easy to accept.

I notice France is having a series of riots over the changes the socialist government under Hollande are applying to labour laws. It's a great advertisement for the EU and should be a shot in the eye for the socialists over here that believe they can reform the EU to match their utopian dreams..err 'fraid not http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/csr2015/csr2015_france_en.pdf It is Brussels that is strongly suggesting they get their house in order. What they also fail to realise is that the real master is Germany. It was Germany that cut the red tape on labour laws, reduced wages and cut spending in order to improve their economy. Brussels-as the bureaucratic wing of the growing German empire-implements the policies Germany demands of its vassal states. I noticed the BBC isn't showing any of the riots and they haven't mentioned the up and coming Greek tragedy coming in July. Unfortunately Greece is again left broke and the Troika are ready to give them another good hammering to ensure they keep on paying. Sent from my iPad

Yet you have witnessed the collapse of every socialist state that has ever existed (in which those in power became very wealthy compared to the rest) and our current hybrid democracy which is also failing because it has succumbed to the same barbaric thinking, primarily because democracy is a half way house to the same totalitarianism. You keep saying 'have their needs met' but you fail to explain how. Laissez faire capitalism has worked extremely well and accounted for Americas rapid rise in fortune in a very short space of time. It was the gradual abandonment of laissez faire beginning in the mid 19th century that is now responsible for the collapse. Luckily, the amount of wealth accumulated over the period when the free market operated and the gradually closing door over the last 100 or so years has allowed the US to remain the largest economy. However, now that China and India have begun to free their economies from socialism, they to are flourishing once again. Anytime the state let's go of commerce, then the people thrive. The problem is stopping the state from intervening.

Socialists never answer why they believe this is true. They raise a banner and act as if it's a statement of proven fact. They also fail to answer the second most important question 'who pays?'

I nearly threatened that but thought it was a touch childish. Why does he want to remain ? I'm always interested because I can see no earthly reason for staying. The EU is knackered and getting more knackered. The only people campaigning to stay are either IMO they are deluded, or they make a living from the EU in some respect-such as farmers. It's not always obvious. Some companies such as lease, PR, press, marketing, lobbyists do very well out of the system, but they really produce nothing of any use except as soak pits for the tax payers money through Brussels employ.

It's pretty straight forward once the philosophy of 'no initiation of force' is adopted. The US did pretty well with its constitution, but failed to tie down some loose ends. The Government itself would be prevented from initiation of force. We would need a chamber of judges and a second chamber of randomly elected citizens to choose the judges. Somebody spent a penny on your mothers healthcare, it wasn't free. All of us who earn are paying taxation to cover those costs. There is no reason why we could not operate competing insurance and health care systems just as we do in every other kind of industry. As an example, in the USSR it was the state who provided footware, yet no one in the West asks how a private organisation could provide shoes, or people afford to buy them. They assume that the state must be providing a product that the private sector could not and that people woukd end up barefoot. Yet that doesn't happen. Indeed you can discover charity shops filled with shoes no one has ever worn for a few pence. People happily give them away, which would be an unthinkable situation where the services are still provided by the state. Secondly we can have charities that help those who genuinely cannot afford the insurance costs and even hospitals that will set themselves up as charity hospitals. Even today this is relatively common as people regularly run and collect for millions of health charities and not to forget the option of lotteries. However, as in the example of shoe manufacture; when a laissez faire market is involved in production, then the costs fall dramatically. There are multiple categories of business providing for all pockets. If the state had to make cars, then we end up with over priced, rationed and poor quality vehicles that create lots of pollution, drive badly and are inefficient. Yet, when the private sector is involved, even some of the very poorest can afford something used which is far better than the state could produce, at a fraction of the price, with higher quality and performance. I've set this out before, but I wouldn't suggest implementing everything all at once. Certainly health care/pensions woukd need to be one of the last things to be dismantled. We don't even have laissez faire capitalism or monetary system. Let's get those sorted first. Let's get tax payers money out of organisations that are primary recipients such as NGOs, big businesses, banks, land owners, farmers, licensing and every other wonk outfit leaching off the tax payer and cut the taxes for everyone.

The leave.eu campaign is doing themselves no favours with me today. Apparently we don't have an area coordinator so I couldn't have any flyers or leaflets. I didn't really want the job of coordinator as I'm not that kind of organiser, but happy to do my bit. Eventually, after sending them an email outlining my disappointment and frustration they apologised and agreed to send me some stuff. I wonder if this is what is happening everywhere else ? They appear to be treating it like an election and only working in areas that aren't staunch Labour which is stupid in a referendum where every vote counts as one vote. It's damned hard work trying to be an unpaid volunteer.