a new thread!
 

Aren't you about a millenium off in timing on figuring out why Christianity took off? I mean, that's an ancient world rather than middle ages type question, and was kind of sorted out sometime before Muhammed.

a new thread!
 

If you are limiting it to that time frame, then I agree.

I don't agree with that analysis.

I do agree that the protestant version of Christianity is more accepting of capitalism than catholism.

a new thread!
 

I'm not disagreeing. I'm merely arguing Weber reversed cause and effect. This isn't an original thought. See another German philosopher, who did his best work in the reading room of the British Museum and had a tendency to fascinate the Russians and Chinese in the first half of the 20th Century.

a new thread!
 

I'm not arguing about why Xty took off. Taxwonk is arguing that Protestant denominations took off because German and Scottish burgers were manipulating the masses, and I'm suggesting that this (1) is a little far-fetched, and (2) does not really undercut Max Weber's theories about the Protestant work ethic.

Why don't we split the difference and call it a dialectic? We'd make Hegel happy, and he tends to be forgotten these days. Maybe if the Russians and Chinese had been more comfortable with internal dissent.

But I'm not getting how Weber reversed cause and effect on your account. You have to go further and say it's all false consciousness, right? If so, why didn't Catholics fall for the same con?

a new thread!
 

Actually, I was arguing that the "Protestant" work ethic wasn't really Protestant. It was merely an ecoomic phenomenon that happened to take root first in the Protestant nations.

a new thread!
 

I'm getting the impression that you think that I think that "culture" can coexist independent of an all-pervasive "dogma". I don't.

Slur? Ah, first you make the empty assertion above for a base, and then make your Hitler argument. I'm not quite clear as to how this is even remotely pertinent to what I said, but maybe the important point is, it doesn't have to be. The Hitler Option stands by itself, doesn't it?

Kristol/Hume/Etc.
 

They refuse to open their minds.

And the conservative pundits aren't all cut out of the same mold, either. They disagree with each other on some topics, too.

Fox News Watch is a good show, too. The panel is balanced with liberals like Neal Gabler and Jane Hall.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119535,00.html

a new thread!
 

I liked your necromancer sig line better.

a new thread!
 

I'm confused by what you mean by "culture" and "dogma." Can you explain?

Kristol/Hume/Etc.
 

Which is exactly why Gattigap turned the station to KPFA in disgust when he heard that Terri Gross was going to interview Kristol, and why I wouldn't be caught dead linking to a Kristol article, let alone reading one.

No Release of Oil Reserves
 

I agree with it. The purpose of the reserve is not to artifically lower oil prices.

From what I have read, the price increase is a demand issue. The reved up economy of China, which is fueled by US demand for Chinese produced goods, is increasing the demand. China is a new factor in the oil suppy-demand balance and the market needs to adjust on its own without attempts to manipulate price.

It is admirable of Bush to be constrained on this. He could help himself in the election if he released them.

Intelligenter than you!
 

Don't know if this has been posted:

According to the Economist, of the top ten US states in terms of average IQ, all but one voted for Gore in the last election. On the other hand, all of the bottom ten voted for Bush.


1. Connecticut (avg IQ: 113): Gore
2. Mass (111): Gore
New Jersey (111): Gore
4. New York (109): Gore
5. R.I. (107): Gore
6. Hawaii (106): Gore
7. Maryland (105): Gore
New Hampshire (105): Bush
9. Illinois (104): Gore
10. Delaware (103): Gore

40. Alabama (90): Bush
Louisiana (90): Bush
Montana (90): Bush
Oklahoma (90): Bush
S. Dakota (90): Bush
46. S. Carolina (89): Bush
Wyoming (89): Bush
48. Idaho (87): Bush
Utah (87): Bush
50. Mississippi (85): Bush

No Release of Oil Reserves
 

Not really. I can't believe that releasing oil would have any effect on prices, and he would simply be attacked on some other equally silly ground. But I did get a chuckle out of your attempt to paint Bush's leadership on this issue as a profile in courage.

Kristol/Hume/Etc.
 

Therein lies the (or at least one) difference between me and you. I do read and listen to what liberals have to say. On occasion, I have even been persuaded by what they had to say when it made sense.

I don't pick my positions based on the Rep platform. I pick them by informing myself about the issues, which means listening to both sides. This is why I advocate positions on both sides of the political spectrum. Because I am not a blind partisan, but rather, a thinking person.

Kristol/Hume/Etc.
 

You are, once again, the Queen of the Literal.