Happy Dog wrote:
"cjcampbell"

crap

The gods of organized religions couldn't sit down with a small committee of
the people they claim to rule and decide what to eat for breakfast. It's a
crock.


Gosh, makes you wonder how I manage to tie my own shoes in the morning.


It matters to ourselves and to each other. Clearly. No god is required to
validate the existence of anything.

Did I say that? Look, either you are the creation of a god or you are
the product of the laws of an immutable universe. Either way, you get
no credit (or blame) for who or what you are. You had nothing to do
with it. Or did you have a rational alternative? (I can think of at
least one, but I want to hear yours.)

..

You really do love this obtuse crap when trying to make a point.

I do love it so.


And, in any event, O captain of your soul, what of parents or teachers
or all others who have helped you along throughout your life? Are you
truly independent? Were you born without parents? Fed without farmers?
Clothed without textile workers? Housed without lumberjacks?

No. I chose to avail myself of their knowledge and aid and they were
compensated for it. Or, they did it for their own reasons. I wasn't a
parasite. And I see nothing inconsistent with living a mostly independent
life and happiness for oneself and friends.

Some people are lost without a personal god. And they're not all bad. But
most that argue that others should be drive me nuts when they use their
faith to **** on those who don't believe in the same cosmic muffin or one at
all.

I often feel much the same way. In fact, everyone who disagrees with me
should be destroyed. :-)

Of course, I drive every day in Philippine traffic. If that doesn't
make a believer out of you, nothing will.

In fact, you ought to come to the Philippines. You might like it here.
The government is too incompetent to collect its taxes effectively. No
one enforces any laws. Heck, the mayor in this town shot his vice mayor
last year, and no one has even said "boo." Driving at night can be a
bit spooky, what with about half the vehicles having no lights at all
and a majority of the rest either having no tail lights or long ago
they switched them with the brake lights or the backup lights or maybe
just hung some Christmas lights across the back. Some of those vehicles
will be oxcarts or horse buggies, some will be "tricycles," little
scooters with sidecars supposedly licensed by the city but without any
safety features whatsoever. The rest will be trucks, buses, and cars
driven by people who are suffering from terminal road rage. And
jeepneys. It is illegal for any vehicle to be unpainted or chrome in
color, so of course that is the predominant color of jeepneys,
tricycles and trucks. They might have bald tires. They might not have
brakes. They probably don't have lights. But they will have chrome
paint jobs, a gazillion antennae, and about three times as many
passengers as you could imagine cramming in there.

The only stop light in town is sponsored by a brewery. All the traffic
signs are paid for and sponsored by local businesses. There is no
standardization on signs, but no one pays any attention to them anyway.
The lane markings are there for decoration only. If I stop at the stop
light (and they have three cops there to make sure the stop light is
obeyed) and I am the first in line, by the time the stop light turns
green I will be seventh in line at least. Everyone just sneaks around
you on both sides to get in front of you until the whole intersection
is filled up with stoplight snudgers. The road in front of your house,
if you have both a road and a house, is paved only if you paid for it.
Advertising regulations? How about this: "Colt .45 Malt Liquor -- Cool
sa driving!" A malt liquor that actually advertises that it improves
your driving! It might, too. I really wonder how I work up the nerve to
drive on these roads while stone sober.

One thing I don't understand. If the country is so desperately poor,
with a per capita income of $600/year, why is it that traffic jams make
it practically impossible to drive across town, and why are there no
parking spaces?

Want a gun? Technically illegal, but everyone carries them anyway. I
can get you a nice .50 cal. machine gun if you want. Or hand grenades.
Maybe even your own private tank. And with no cops, you can just blow
anybody away if you don't like their looks. Happens all the time here.
In fact, if you are driving and hit a pedestrian, you better be
carrying a gun. Otherwise the bystanders will drag you from the car and
beat you to death with rocks.

If you get hit by a bus, you better try to get away. Bus drivers who
run over pedestrians have to pay their medical expenses, But if the
driver kills a pedestrian, he only has to pay for the funeral. So if he
only injures someone, he has huge financial incentive to run over him
again! And they do, too. A couple of our missionaries saw a bus hit a
small child. The driver got out, saw the kid was still alive, so he got
into his bus and backed over him.

If someone is so stupid as to lend you money, you don't have to pay it
back! Just have your hired thugs threaten to kill him and his whole
family if he demands payment. Hired thugs are cheap, too. The going
rate for a murder for hire is about P10,000, or $150.

Getting clear title for your house is a problem. Since no one wants to
pay taxes, no one ever bothers to record real estate transactions. The
landlord collecting your rent may or not own your home, how would you
know? No matter, if someone else comes along and starts asking for back
rent, there are always the hired thugs. Of course, he has hired thugs,
too.

On the upside, you can live a like a king for almost nothing here. You
can have a nice house, a car, the best food, and good servants for less
than $2,000/month. The scenery is fantastic and the people are very
friendly, as long as you don't offend someone and he sends his thugs
after you. :-) If you need medication for anything, drug stores rarely
bother with asking for your prescription and sometimes they actually
have what you need on hand. No FDA here, either. You can buy potions or
devices that will increase your height, bust size, whatever -- they
advertise them on TV. You want Crest toothpaste? Well, they have tubes
that say Crest on them. Maybe some of them have Crest toothpaste in
them, maybe not.

McDonald's serves spaghetti, with tomato sauce made of catsup. Well
maybe that isn't a plus. But you can get even their largest meal for
less than $2. But why bother? For that kind of money some restaurants
will serve a 7 course meal and have a waiter that stands behind your
chair the whole time, waiting to do your slightest bidding. Even
Shakey's has waiters like that.

Because you are an American, everyone will call you "Sir." People will
ask you your opinion and they will believe it! You learn real quick not
to say much, because everyone wants to be an American. So they imitate
you constantly. Of course, most of what people around here know about
America is what they get from watching the news or American sitcoms on
TV, which is kind of scary when you think about it. It is a good thing
there aren't any 1920's gangster shows any more, or the whole country
would look like an episode of "The Untouchables."

Come on up to Laoag and I'll show you around.