Profile for too kraut, don't read

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Field	Value
Displayed name	too kraut, don't read
Member number	3980
Title	Shock Trooper
Postcount	311
Homepage	http://-
Registered	Friday, February 13 2004 08:00

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Two years to the day. in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Wednesday, March 23 2005 04:58 Profile Homepage #30 Milu wrote: quote: Is it even possible to separate reason and emotion? Which one comes first? Emotion comes first both in ontogenesis (development of the individual) - as every parent will tell you - as well as in phylogenesis (development of the species). Reason requires more than communication namely the ability to leave one's subjective point of view and adopt (or at least strive to adopt) some more general point of view which is acceptable to your communication partner. In the situation between Israel and the Palestineans where communication is often reduced to nonverbal violence whether bulldozing homes, building a wall, destroying wells, or suicide attacks, there is no basis for reasoning because the realities that both communities have established for themselves are incompatible. If you read Rachel Corrie's account (just click on her picture in Aran's post (1st post in this thread), you realise how the reality conveyed by US-news services differs from the reality that Corrie found in Palestine when she came there. She clung to the hope of a common "human" point of view where deliberate eye-to-eye killing of an unarmed civilian is taboo and risked to die rather than run. Make your own judgement. [ Wednesday, March 23, 2005 05:17: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Two years to the day. in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Wednesday, March 23 2005 02:31 Profile Homepage #27 quote: either side could bring it to an end if they had a genuine commitment to peace. I believe at present that the palestineans could do so only if they would reach some military balance with Israel or staging a well organized collective exodus from the land they were born in because Israel has a record for not respecting limits that are not backed by force. In addition, I believe that Israel could do so only under credible pressure from the US to balance the internal political pressure of settlers. Imho, adequate compensation and a serious resettlement option for the Palestineans would still be the cheapest way to peace economically, not even counting the humanitarian benefits on all sides. The obstacles are mainly emotional, imho. Central Europe has an serious demographic problem and relieving Israel from the demographic pressure of the faster multiplying Palestinean population could alleviate several problems. [ Wednesday, March 23, 2005 02:49: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Terri Schiavo in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Tuesday, March 22 2005 23:02 Profile Homepage #23 Drakey wrote: quote: quote: How can a personlized law, which gives "any parent of Theresa Marie Schiavo" standing to sue in federal court to keep her alive help any other families? Tt's called precedent. That is the problem either way as I had already mentioned quote: quote: The White House insists that the law will not be a precedent. But even that means that the right to bring such claims in federal court is reserved for people with enough political pull to get a law passed that names them in the text. Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
New Abortion Laws in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Monday, March 21 2005 23:32 Profile Homepage #28 The discusssion might benefit from seperating 1. present contraceptive and surgical practices 2. emotional and moral issues 3. legal issues and effects of well-meant laws 4. what can we do to achieve common goal. It is a fact hat present US-government sponsored sex education programs proposing abstinence and neglecting info on contraception lead to some delay in premarital sex and decline in contraceptive measures. Rates of teenage pregnancy and abortions are therefor very high in the US and increasing. The experience with stringent abortion laws has shown that they lead to secret coat-hanger abortions for the poor and abortion tourism for those who can afford it - and some window-dressing in statistics. None of us sees this as a worthwhile goal in itself. One can only speculate what the unstated motives are for outlawing abortions and effectively increasing unwanted pregancies. Wishful thinking, self-righteousness, social control over female reproductive powers, etc. Be it whatever, I do not se any moral value in this combination. Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Terri Schiavo in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Monday, March 21 2005 20:58 Profile Homepage #12 Jewels of the Forest, you wrote: quote: I think it is good for congress to intervene now, not for the sake of saving Terri's life, but for the sake of getting the supreme court ruling so that all the fighting can be put to rest. It will save future families from fighting over the same thing even for as rare as the cases are. How can a personlized law, which gives "any parent of Theresa Marie Schiavo" standing to sue in federal court to keep her alive help any other families? quote: The founders believed in a nation in which, as Justice Robert Jackson once wrote, we would "submit ourselves to rulers only if under rules." There is no place in such a system for a special law creating rights for only one family. The White House insists that the law will not be a precedent. But even that means that the right to bring such claims in federal court is reserved for people with enough political pull to get a law passed that names them in the text. By putting Federal courts above state jurisdiction President Bush and his Congressional allies have begun to enunciate a new principle: the rules of government are worth respecting only if they produce the result we want. I call that totalitarianism. P.S. The second quote is from today's NYTimes editorial: A Blow to the Rule of Law. Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
The Universe in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Monday, March 21 2005 12:40 Profile Homepage #51 With all the beauty of electroweak unification and the standard model we should not forget that in all of cosmology we are dealing with extrapolations in time and space - being very happy whenever we have found some other new observation that fits in and which allows to narrow down the limits on previously assumed "confidence" intervals for physical constants. Close to the big bang singularity there were energy densities that we cannot reproduce in present supercolliders and there may have been additional interactions or forms of matter. Our concepts of space and time are not garanteed to hold there at all. We have to live with these horizons in time and space. They allow a lot of entertaining speculations and provide jobs for scientists. Explanations of observable astronomical features would be slightly more to my taste, however, e.g. what is the mechanism that gives rise to spiral arms of galaxies? What is the effect of the delay in the gravity interaction due to the large distances? How come the sky is dark at night and what can we conclude from this? Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Terri Schiavo in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Monday, March 21 2005 11:58 Profile Homepage #3 While I do understand the perspective of the husband and I think that "emergency" legislation made for a single case is unconstitutional and promotes totalitarianism - this may be a test run to allow for a lifelong W.-presidency by Diebold plebiscite - I do have my doubts about the medical side of the case. How come that the patient has been able to survive so long? What is the experience in similar cases? Assume she is irreversibly dead, then the person as a legal subject does no longer exist. What is the argument against keeping her bodily functions going and accomodate emotional needs of the parents? There is no written will. This is regularly done for organ donors. I am afraid that it has become more of an emotional political and ego show than a reasonable discussion about moral values. What about the money? Imho, a lot of good could come from a campaign to keep her alive - with sponsored TV-spots on a live cam and proceeds going to real sex education including contraception. That would be real pro-life activism. Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Wolfowitz to rule the World Bank? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Saturday, March 19 2005 09:47 Profile Homepage #7 quote: We are not bad people because we have a bad leader. The people who did vote for Bush were scared ignorant people. I agree wholeheartedly. The whole US-nation is more than the people who voted and the elected administration. And that is why the individuals cannot be held responsible for the policy of the government. Even if the rate of Iraqis dying is higher under the US occupation than it was under Saddam and depleted Uranium ammo and cluster bombs result in environmental damage on years to come - individual US-citizen are not guilty, imho. quote: Bush works hard to appeal to the uneducated, the impoverished, and the hard core religious types. After 911 American's decisions were based on fear and on threats of wars. To condemn a nation for blindly trying to defend themselves is in it self incredibly ignorant. How long is such a blind rampage to last? Plans to invade Iraq were made long before 9/11. That bad guy with a moustache on the other side of the world talked as if he had an assault rifle and W. decided he would have to go. Then comes 9/11 and you first defend yourself blindly, i.e. stir the rubble in Afghanistan. Then while you are at it you remember the guy with the moustache and go after him under the pretext of self-defense. And afterwards you claim to be promoting democracy and freedom. From the ethical perspective, this is treacherous and evil. It would be farfetched to claim extenuating circumstances but, at the national level, there is no jurisdiction, the US would not accept any World Court, anyway. The more important perspective, however, is the trust other nations have in the US and this has just plummeted through all bottoms. It will take a generation to earn that trust again - after the US changes its present unilateralist and imperialist policies. I am afraid that will not happen before the US continues its decline into faschism. The American idol of freedom is probably discredited forever. BTW, the tactics of stabilizing ones rule by scaring one's people and waging war after staging a thread is very old... It never worked in the long run, however - fortunately. [ Saturday, March 19, 2005 09:58: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
How do you perceive what you imagine? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Sunday, November 21 2004 17:30 Profile Homepage #22 quote: ... a boy bouncing a ball I am still envisioning that 8-year-old running from left to right, his red t-shirt and yellow bermudas waving in the wind... I tend to embellish thoughts, complete pictures so that they are more appealing to me and I can remember them more easily. More in general, I like to make arguments flow. The ideas come in bits and pieces and I can collect them best on a piece of real paper, because the next one comes more easily when I know I do not have to remember the previous one because I have written it down. Then I try to put things into some logical order by staring at my unordered list. At that time, I see witten words and connecting lines and when I have the structure I try to explain things to myself - I actually hear myself talking without moving my lips my arms gesturing on time. Ans when those faces appear in my mind that show understanding, I am almost done and looking for a victim/test person to test my explanation. Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Cyber Culture/ What is real? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Thursday, October 28 2004 07:25 Profile Homepage #68 quote: Imban: I do feel is an intense sorrow for the people lying naked in the snow Have you ever been to Finland? AFAIK this is a matter of culture there. No girlie ladies, imho. [ Thursday, October 28, 2004 08:45: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Cyber Culture/ What is real? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Thursday, October 28 2004 05:33 Profile Homepage #65 Some incident in old Troy comes to mind with nude females marching towards an insane warrior in order to calm him down with a healthy shock. Forgot who it was. Might even fit into some RP or some scenario. Ha, and some nudist "No bush" demos - don't you remember? I wonder whether that will get me banned here? Not sure about desper-support - these are no goats. [ Thursday, October 28, 2004 05:51: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Cyber Culture/ What is real? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Thursday, October 28 2004 04:38 Profile Homepage #63 quote: Kelandon: ... Lasciviousness, maybe What is your life like, how do the ladies around you dress everyday, what ads and cover pages do you see everyday that you associate this picture with "Lasciviousness" - in California? Catholic Europe is getting wound up over head scarves as islamist symbols of female suppression and - possibly in a subconscious counterreaction - bare midriff tops are worn at protestant confirmations and christian funerals. In comparison, this friendly smiling girl is dressed very decently in a casual inconspicuous uniform, imho. If they had asked her to suppress her ID badge on the photo I could understand, but ... she should rather be recognized for scaring off islamists passengers. [ Thursday, October 28, 2004 05:28: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Ghost Stories in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Thursday, October 28 2004 04:17 Profile Homepage #15 Pagan or not, has Halloween always been about scaring others in order to overcome one's own scariness? If it was good enough for christian missionaries to recycle this theme - it may good enough for politicians these days in the season of elections. [ Thursday, October 28, 2004 04:19: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Golden Country in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Thursday, October 28 2004 04:03 Profile Homepage #17 quote: Aran: Guess which one got the A+, and which the C. Come on, guess. No need to guess - just from the way you put it. The expectations for a 4000 words piece are much higher than 4 times 1000 words. There is much more structure to develop and a careful crafting for the flow of thoughts. How often had you done 4000 and how often had you done 1000 words pieces before? Think of it as the difference between a 4000 piece mosaic where you how to choose the theme yourself and a 1000 piece puzzle. The way you describe it, you had trouble remembering the insights you had had last time whenever you got back to work on the piece. Everybody would have had such difficulties first time. Try to read and understand both texts now - 6 months later - and give grades based upon whther the writer knew where he wanted to get at the middle and at the conclusion when he wrote the first sentence. Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Cyber Culture/ What is real? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Wednesday, October 27 2004 02:01 Profile Homepage #55 You mean she should have taken off that uniform before having that picture taken? I doubt it. Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Cyber Culture/ What is real? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Wednesday, October 27 2004 01:50 Profile Homepage #53 The trouble starts when cyber reality and r/l meet. Example: Queen of the skies was suspended from her job because she posted this "inappropiate" photo: Blogger's trouble No textile malfunction - just a smile and a lapse of media hygiene, namely separation of r/l from cyber identity. [ Wednesday, October 27, 2004 01:59: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Cyber Culture/ What is real? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Tuesday, October 26 2004 11:59 Profile Homepage #50 quote: by Aran: ... If, for example, you saw someone posting here that I'd been flattened by a car, or jumped off a bridge, what would your reaction be? I would be VERY sad. quote: FBM: ...Well, point being that here I often aggrieve certain people. In r/l I am too polite to do so. There, I thrive on socialisation, that is my breakfast, lunch and tea. A good meal is nothing compared to the company you take it in. Online, I couldn't give a damn what someone, who, in my eyes, is an ididot, thinks. 1. Maybe you are more open online 2. Maybe you just do not get immediate clues about the reactions that you elicit as you get in r/l. 3. Maybe the online community is more patient in pointing out things to you because they have not yet given up on you. I, for my part, find that I have to be more careful online with what I write. There are many more people who read and comment than when I say anything in r/l. It is an ongoing tough education for me and I feel I am still not there yet. Sometimes after a long rant, I do not return to the thread for several days just to calm down. Sometimes when the answer is three screenfuls after my single screen post, I just give up. I do not have the stamina to go on and on and on as I would in r/l. Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Cyber Culture/ What is real? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Friday, October 22 2004 02:07 Profile Homepage #7 Communicating on a board has one distinct advantage over talking person to person: you read and write at your individual convenience. Nobody calls when you are in bed or in a hurry. It is always you who determine the moment, when you look up what's new the board. In addition, there is no danger of being obliged to do anything. This allows more openness - you do not run the risk of spill-over of political disagreement into a neighbor dispute. Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
How do we perceive fringe groups? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Thursday, October 21 2004 09:50 Profile Homepage #38 None of us knows how much money flows to both sides in Israel and Palastine. Here is something On the Northern Island Status at present. The difficulty is to develop courage to give up the idea of eradicating the enemy will bring more security. I doubt that it would help if Sharon and Arafat changed their places, because Sharon in Arafat's position would not accepts any of the deals that Israel offers and - maybe - vice versa. Reminds of Groucho Marx refusing to join a club that would admitt anybody like him. [ Thursday, October 21, 2004 10:00: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
How do we perceive fringe groups? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Thursday, October 21 2004 09:14 Profile Homepage #36 Andrew, the Northern Island parallel is an interesting point and it may help us out of spiralling into the the cul de sac of a flame war. There was that Good Friday agreement where the IRA agreed to lay down arms in exchange for some political powersharing may be reminiscient of a "land for peace" deal. What prevented the Ulster Unionists from building a wall through the catholic areas and from ethnic clensing for "security reasons"? How important was that the money from the US into IRA coffers was cut off? Where did the Unionists get their support from? I mean if there is no more money flowing in from the outside, all the madness should die down in due course, should it not? Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
How do we perceive fringe groups? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Thursday, October 21 2004 03:58 Profile Homepage #32 Drakey, are you sure that speculating about killing of President Arafat is appropriate for a highly respected "super"-member of this board? From what you write I believe that peace will not be possible unless BOTH sides abstain from such blatant distortions of facts. Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
Work Experience in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Wednesday, October 20 2004 03:06 Profile Homepage #5 A friend of mine did some translating between English and German recently and found out that his bilingual skills, his keen interest in language as such, and the great joy he experiences in writing fiction just does not match up with the work environment as a translator. Just imagine, if he had studied for years dreaming to translate Bill Bryson if not Shakespeare only to end up translating sauna installation manuals from chinese english (Schnappen den Poppen aber nicht heben den Faulknödel sonst tödlich) ... it would have cost him dearly - probably a year of depression. Sometimes the dullness of the "dream job" is a very valuable experience - although it is very rarely admitted. [ Wednesday, October 20, 2004 05:03: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
How do we perceive fringe groups? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Tuesday, October 19 2004 23:49 Profile Homepage #30 Alec, I agree with you "in theory". Just look at BBCs recent Analysis: Israel's Gaza strategy However, 1. this leaves out the political reality in the US. Who am I to try to analyse this? 2. this leaves out the lack of will to give up the land grab a la Salami: Ugly war over West Bank olive crop. Does anybody have a clue about different media cultures in the US and in the UK? [ Wednesday, October 20, 2004 00:14: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
How do we perceive fringe groups? in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Tuesday, October 19 2004 09:45 Profile Homepage #28 There is nothing as practical as a good theory, but, with respect, any political "theory" that ignores the history and the resulting subjective feelings and anxieties of peoples is not worth the time. I do not mean to lecture, but... if you want to take the effect of the Holocaust into account and if I may suggest, start by considering what effect 9/11 has had on the US population. The Holocaust was to 9/11 like 9/11 was to one murder. Imho, it was also of a different nature. Still, 9/11 it is at least close in time and present in media reports, although nobody survived to tell the tale. For me as a German the most scary aspect of the Holocaust is that it went from official bullying to deportation in full view of the neighbors to industrial scale killing of people who had been well integrated in the community. Nothing like "surgical strikes" or carpet bombing or nuclear bombing of people whom the pilot has never seen. The only remark I have to fend off the idea that it resulted from some inherently German trait is that the killing infrastructure did not start like a huge killing machine specifically for Jews from the outset. Do I need to mention that the idea that it was all Hitler's fault does not hold water? He did not invent any of that racist ideology (look here Lanz_von_Liebenfels for a start)- maybe one of the things that singled him out from the beginning was that he was without a doubt. Now try to change the perspective from the operators to the victims. I cannot come to grips with that as everybody I have talked to about the IIIrd Reich felt like a victim - it might seem like there were no operators. It helped a bit to read Klaus Theweleit's Male Fantasies. At least it helps to identify the subjective traits of the operators. The subjective ones are the ones that you need for that scary introspective search... I have come to accept that trying to undertsand the Jewish perspective is just beyond me. I can only say that trying to understand Israel without understanding Antisemitism - or Antijudaism to be more precise - is just futile. In a way the Palestineans have got to bear the consequences of the prosecution/victimisation of the Jews that occurred all over Europe more or less through the ages before, so there is little room for European self-righteousness (Forgive me the passive voice.) What is difficult to bear, however, is that the victim-feeling has infected the Arab world by Palestinean and now by Iraqi proxies via the the US - in perpetuating repercussions that prevents any self-inspection. The whole concept of guilt does not help here as victims have a particularly hard time to introspect for fear of having to accept guilt - no matter whether born again Christians or else. Acceptance of guilt endangers the identity of the victim as such that is why everybody is so obsessed with "balanced" reporting. Somehow we have to find some solidarity in fighting this virus of being each others Antisemits - mentally. Some might want to believe that this was what Christianity started out as - it did not stay like that. [ Tuesday, October 19, 2004 12:04: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00
a sad day for short wave radio operators in General
too kraut, don't read Shock Trooper Member # 3980	written Sunday, October 17 2004 08:49 Profile Homepage #1 Does this mean that spontaneous long range contacts with unlisted radio equipment will become impossible in the US? This would make surveillance of transmitting and receiving devices much easier imho and large scale eavesdropping more difficult to evade. Honi soit qui mal y pense. [ Sunday, October 17, 2004 08:51: Message edited by: No 2 Methylphenidate ] Posts: 311 \| Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00

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