Page 8 of 9 FirstFirst ... 6 7 8 9 LastLast
Results 71 to 80 of 83
  1. #71
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Washington comma the Great State of.
    Posts
    1,211

    Default Re: Tobacco Stings and Use of Minors

    Well, I wasn't always an academic in title. I was once actually a cop. But the two goals were incompatible. So, I chose the one that gave me more of a challenge and greater ability to leave a lasting mark on humanity without being fettered with such petty factors as politics, and public opinion.

    That's the beauty of the class system we claim not to have in the States.

    In all reality, I generally enjoyed my time as in law enforcement. The statues with which I disagreed and had some latitude on, I ignored. I don't think it's a particularly wise expenditure of such a limited resource to police people based on anachronistic religious ideas of morality. While I encourage most people in their religious views, it to me remains a personal issue which has no place in public policy. I know you disagree because, well, you're a god-fearing man.

    But academia feels more like a home to me than law enforcement did. But there are inherent dangers of being surrounded by people of similar intellectual bents. I think they're roughly on par with the idea of not buying into one's own press. But the upside is that a great majority of scholars are aware of this and tend to often argue views which they don't actually hold.

    As Tom Lehrer has said, and with which I generally agree, I have no convictions and I'll deny under oath things to effect. I am paraphrasing him - very loosely. But he wouldn't argue that he said it any differently.

    I suppose I should mention that as a rule I don't get along with Californians. Also is true of political science majors. I've never been able to pin down the exact what it is they have in common which doesn't well mesh with my personality, but it is decidedly there.

    "The tyrant is a child of pride
    who drinks from his sickening cup
    recklessness and vanity
    until from his high crest headlong
    he plummets to the dust of hope." - Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. 429 bce

  2. #72
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    California
    Posts
    20,594

    Default Re: Tobacco Stings and Use of Minors

    Quote Quoting ashman165
    View Post
    Well, I wasn't always an academic in title. I was once actually a cop. But the two goals were incompatible. So, I chose the one that gave me more of a challenge and greater ability to leave a lasting mark on humanity without being fettered with such petty factors as politics, and public opinion.
    I know people who have been able to do both just fine. It's difficult, but I think it makes for a better academic When theory runs smack into the wall of reality, it can be disconcerting and can force one to evaluate the flaws in the theory.

    Perhaps that is a fundamental difference between so-called academics and many of the rest of us: we do not seek to make a mark on humanity, but instead, to make our mark on humans - on people. I am not so pious as to think that I can impact all of mankind, but I do believe I can have a positive impact on those around me and those who I encounter in the course of my life. If you can make a positive impact on all of humanity, good for you. But, no matter, as neither of our names will be known 100 years from now.

    While I encourage most people in their religious views, it to me remains a personal issue which has no place in public policy. I know you disagree because, well, you're a god-fearing man.
    Since most of our key laws - and the laws of most every country on the planet - also have foundations that mirror religious principles, I can't imagine too many that you might oppose that you think have religious undertones ... perhaps prostitution?

    One cannot simply check their values at the door, and since most people in this country profess to hold some faith of one kind or another, the electorate will act on their values - be they of religious foundation or otherwise - when deciding on public policy.

    But academia feels more like a home to me than law enforcement did.
    As long as you are happy with what you are doing. Personally, I enjoy dealing with people, so I chose to leave the confines of an office and enter law enforcement.

    I suppose I should mention that as a rule I don't get along with Californians.
    We Californians rarely get along with each other. We are one state that should probably be at least three. In fact, there is a new measure afoot that would like to see the north state of California and the southern part of Oregon secede to form their own state. I doubt it will happen, but it just goes to show how out of touch most of California is with even itself. Politically, the coast has nothing in common with the inland counties, and the south has little in common with the north coast (except that they both use our water).


    - Carl

  3. #73
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Washington comma the Great State of.
    Posts
    1,211

    Default Re: Tobacco Stings and Use of Minors

    Quote Quoting cdwjava
    View Post
    I know people who have been able to do both just fine. It's difficult, but I think it makes for a better academic When theory runs smack into the wall of reality, it can be disconcerting and can force one to evaluate the flaws in the theory.

    Perhaps that is a fundamental difference between so-called academics and many of the rest of us: we do not seek to make a mark on humanity, but instead, to make our mark on humans - on people. I am not so pious as to think that I can impact all of mankind, but I do believe I can have a positive impact on those around me and those who I encounter in the course of my life. If you can make a positive impact on all of humanity, good for you. But, no matter, as neither of our names will be known 100 years from now.


    Since most of our key laws - and the laws of most every country on the planet - also have foundations that mirror religious principles, I can't imagine too many that you might oppose that you think have religious undertones ... perhaps prostitution?

    One cannot simply check their values at the door, and since most people in this country profess to hold some faith of one kind or another, the electorate will act on their values - be they of religious foundation or otherwise - when deciding on public policy.


    As long as you are happy with what you are doing. Personally, I enjoy dealing with people, so I chose to leave the confines of an office and enter law enforcement.


    We Californians rarely get along with each other. We are one state that should probably be at least three. In fact, there is a new measure afoot that would like to see the north state of California and the southern part of Oregon secede to form their own state. I doubt it will happen, but it just goes to show how out of touch most of California is with even itself. Politically, the coast has nothing in common with the inland counties, and the south has little in common with the north coast (except that they both use our water).


    - Carl
    Well, you don't know my name and whether it'll be known in a 100 years' time. I do know my name and what I've done.

    Will I be known in that amount of time? I have no idea. But I suspect my work will be still be relevant then. But only will tell and I'll long be dead by then.

    It wasn't possible for me to pursue my academic career to the extent I have and remain a police officer. There are various reasons for this. Some of which are that my studies couldn't be reasonably done entirely in the States, and the sheer nature of my various academic endeavors were extremely time-consuming such that working any job which required a particular schedule wouldn't have been practical. I don't know how it is in California, but in Washington, commissioned officers are required to meet certain hours to retain their commission. So, I had to make a choice between being a police officer, which was one childhood dream of mine, and fulfilling my intellectual curiousity.

    Come on. Californians have a commonality: you're all one people bound together by that cute little gerbil. ^_^ *hides*

    I don't think it's fair to say that leaving a mark on humanity doesn't leave a mark on the ones possessed of it - namely the humans. Whether the mark is good or bad isn't likely to be known until I'm long dead as that's the downside of scientific advancement. We never know where it will lead.

    In the end, Einstein regretted much of his academic life saying that had he known, he'd have remained a watch maker. Even Newton didn't understand the actual importance of his footnote to his physics works. That footnote was incidentally known as fluxions. We now call it the calculus.

    It is of course true that much of our law is based on religious ideals. However, it's not true that these ideals are the exclusive province of religion. They just happen to also share them. Nor is it true that our laws are based on these principles because they're affiliated with at least one religion.

    Most people agree that killing people is at least rude. So, we have a law that says not to do it. Actually, we have many laws which say that.

    Most people agree that stealing is impolite at the very least. So we have laws.

    Most Christians believe that being gay is wrong. But we don't have laws against it.
    Until recent times, most Christians thought being black meant one was inferior. Those laws are no more and now most Christians agree that just being black doesn't make one inferior.

    Even despite that having been a rather popular view for a long, long time, the laws were eventually changed despite the resistance of these churches.

    As time has borne out time and again, the views which are generally exclusive to a religion - even when the majority of the people here are members of it - are eventually removed from our legal code despite the resistance the Church offers to prevent it.

    So, yes, it's accurate that many of our laws do embrace some religious ideas. But it's not at all accurate to say that the laws are the law because they're held by some particular faith. It just happens to be a case where general ideas of morality aren't specifically opposed by the church - like with murder and rape and what not.

    But the laws which are opposed by the church generally remain the law, and the ones pressed by the church to be adopted or maintained because it's god's mandate rarely are adopted and generally not for very long.

  4. #74
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Tobacco Stings and Use of Minors

    Quote Quoting ashman165
    View Post
    Well, you don't know my name and whether it'll be known in a 100 years' time. I do know my name and what I've done.
    I don't know your name? Well, not all of it. Yet. You give your name as Johnathan, and your handle is ashman165... Let's turn to Google. What's that? Your MySpace page? With your URL? I can look your URL up with whois, and... do I win a prize?

  5. #75
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Washington comma the Great State of.
    Posts
    1,211

    Default Re: Tobacco Stings and Use of Minors

    Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
    View Post
    I don't know your name? Well, not all of it. Yet. You give your name as Johnathan, and your handle is ashman165... Let's turn to Google. What's that? Your MySpace page? With your URL? I can look your URL up with whois, and... do I win a prize?
    I suppose you could, but it wouldn't do you much good at all. But if you think it serves some need in your life, by all means have at it.

    Nor will you ever know enough from the information I leave on the web for public use to ever find out who I actually am. Being on the high side of retarded, I'm at least sufficiently bright to take pains to keep my personal information just that: personal. And protected.

  6. #76
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Tobacco Stings and Use of Minors

    Maybe you should change your name to asshat165.

  7. #77
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Washington comma the Great State of.
    Posts
    1,211

    Default Re: Tobacco Stings and Use of Minors

    Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
    View Post
    Maybe you should change your name to asshat165.
    Maybe you should review the terms of service for use of this website. Ya know, those pesky forum rules Aaron has propounded. I presume they extend all the way up to "senior members".

    But I do appreciate the effort you took in renaming my monicker on here in such a way as to "insult" me as much as I was insulted on the playground when I was told that we boys have cooties.

    Anyway, I have heard your opinion and I am giving your suggestion its due consideration wholly commensurate with its merit.

  8. #78
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Tobacco Stings and Use of Minors

    You have been prancing through here, pretending to be a grand authority on any number of issues, insulting other people, being downright nasty to Carl, and (as is typical with people like you) the moment you get a bit of heat turned your way you turn into a quivering crybaby, whining about "the rules".

    But you know what? If the hat fits....

  9. #79
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Washington comma the Great State of.
    Posts
    1,211

    Default Re: Tobacco Stings and Use of Minors

    Quote Quoting Mr. Knowitall
    View Post
    You have been prancing through here, pretending to be a grand authority on any number of issues, insulting other people, being downright nasty to Carl, and (as is typical with people like you) the moment you get a bit of heat turned your way you turn into a quivering crybaby, whining about "the rules".

    But you know what? If the hat fits....
    Pretending? This is news to me. As I've said, it's only my opinion. People are free to disregard it. But when it's a topic on which I'm not knowledgeable, I don't post in it. If it's a topic on which I'm somewhat knowledgeable, I throw in an appropriate caveat. When it's a subject in which I'm extremely knowledgeable, then yes, I do speak as though I know what I'm talking about.

    Take logic for example. ^_^

  10. #80
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Tobacco Stings and Use of Minors

    If you want to get along here, it would be beneficial if you stopped taking potshots at other members. I'm not going to slap any hands if people are merely responding to your provocations.

    1. Sponsored Links
       

Page 8 of 9 FirstFirst ... 6 7 8 9 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Juvenile Court: Minor in Possession of Tobacco
    By bmnickley in forum Juvenile Law
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 06-05-2011, 02:42 PM
  2. Defective Products: I Want to Sue Tobacco
    By thomaskstewart in forum Accidents and Injuries
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 02-21-2011, 08:07 PM
  3. Search and Seizure: Police Stop of Minors With Alcohol and Tobacco
    By derejrcar in forum Criminal Procedure
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 01-06-2011, 06:27 PM
  4. Minors' Rights: Using Tobacco Underage
    By Pennstate in forum Juvenile Law
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 01-11-2010, 07:01 AM
  5. Defective Products: Is It Possible to Sue a Tobacco Company
    By dazedandconfuzed in forum Accidents and Injuries
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 10-11-2009, 06:12 PM
 
 
Sponsored Links

Legal Help, Information and Resources