Yet another Congressman who doesn't accept the theory of evolution

That's not actually the criterion for denying reality, though, is it? If I denied that lemons were yellow, then it wouldn't harm me, you, or anyone else, but I'd still be denying reality, because they really are yellow.

No. What actually smacks of Stalinism is for a man in a position of power to decide a scientific question on ideological grounds rather than by listening to the educated people who have actually studied the question. That would be accurately described as "Stalinism" because it was what Stalin actually did. And he was indeed a danger to his society, because he wrecked Soviet agriculture as a consequence of his ignorance.

Oh yeah, those evil socialist dictionary makers. Lexicographers the world over are noted for their flagrant Marxism, and also for compiling the definitions of words in large books. No-one can quite explain why the two things always go hand in hand, but it turns out that for some mysterious reason this is invariably the case.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.

Also it's been becoming progressively better and better. Is this just a coincidence? If you'd like to revert to living in eighteenth century conditions, feel free. I'll even help to the best of my abilities, although for practical reasons it will be difficult to infect you with smallpox. No matter what conservatives may tell you, it is possible for the "common man" to be educated. Also, for ignorant tossers. Now if one group is going to influence what I think and believe, I had rather it was the people who actually know stuff. But you, of course, are free to make your own choice. The Republican Party? Yeah, the Republican Party. Definitely the Republican Party.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.

What? I'm full of original thoughts. For example, just the other day I came up with this wildly novel idea. What I reckon is --- this will blow your mind --- what I reckon is that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light ...... wait, my wife's telling me that someone already thought of that 2,500 years ago. Boy, is my face red!

I was talking about the idea, not the words. The language doesn't make a difference: the idea "My monkey is wearing a hat" is the same idea as "Ma singe porte un chapeau".

The distinction between a fool and an idiot is a subtle one.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.

Quite so. I will not engage in you disputes about who actually said this first, but this is indeed why so many voters bend over, pull their pants down, and beg the rich to rape 'em good and hard.

Thank you for the economic truisms. Nonetheless, the fact remains that you and millions of other bleating sheep have been conned into voting for the wolves. I don't give a tuppenny damn whether the quote originated with Murrow or not, the fact is that whoever said it is described you perfectly.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.

Y'know, that is just what I was thinking.

Well, let me ask you a simple question. Since Obama took office, has your tax rate gone up or gone down or stayed the same? You should know, this is a question about you and your own money. Surely you must have noticed. You can look at your own tax returns. Has your proportional tax burden increased?

Ah yes, fascism. That's when people agree with things that they agree with, and disagree with things that they disagree with, isn't it? Oh, and I seem to remember some sort of trivial detail about gas chambers, but that's essentially what fascism is, am I right?

So, not your actual tax rate, then? Golly, and there was I thinking that gas prices were set by the free market. Well, the combination of Obamacare and the magical Obama time machine. The inflation rate is actually rather low by historical standards. In fact, some of the time Obama's been president, it's been negative. Because he'll use his time machine to travel to the future as well?He is currently President, and guess what, people are still looking for coal and oil. How do you propose he's going to stop people from doing that after he's stopped being President?

Ah yes, hypocrisy. That's when people agree with things that they agree with, and disagree with things that they disagree with, isn't it? Well, apparently it is now. A more conventional definition of hypocrisy would be that it's when people conceal their opinions, rather than expressing them. But I'm sure you know best.

Yes, there would. And there would also be times when if we went on believing something when all the evidence shows that it's false we would not ever be vindicated, it would in fact be false, and we'd go to our graves being stubborn idiots.At least if we go by the evidence we are trying to be right. We may sometimes fail, but we are more likely to fail if we don't even try. A man who tries to run his fastest may lose the race, but he's more likely to lose the race if he doesn't try to run his fastest. The same applies to the search for truth: we can try our hardest to do what we can with what we've got and still fail, but we are more likely to fail if we don't even try.