Bazza Posted January 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Re: The Last Word Darth BDSM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Re: The Last Word Darth Tegral Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Re: The Last Word Darth Escapable. He's the Sith jailor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Re: The Last Word There could also be Darth Toxicated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister E Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Re: The Last Word Darth Quiry abducts prospective alien Sith for induction into Sith Lordhood. Darth Duction, ironically, deducts the losses of alien Sith from the total. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Re: The Last Word Meanwhile, Darth Dolence is still in his bunk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Re: The Last Word you know how physics employs math? "I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning." -- Plato - The Republic ...must be why Sheldon became a theoretical physicist, he muses. Nihil tam absurde dici potest, quod non dicatur ab aliquo philosophorum. -- Cicero (trans: "There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it.") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted January 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Re: The Last Word There could also be Darth Toxicated. Darth Intoxicated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted January 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Re: The Last Word Nihil tam absurde dici potest' date=' quod non dicatur ab aliquo philosophorum.[/font'] -- Cicero (trans: "There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it.") touche but then who trusts Italian politicians? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Re: The Last Word I know Italians don't. In fact, I suspect no one in the whole Eurozone does these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Re: The Last Word I know Italians don't. In fact' date=' I suspect no one in the whole Eurozone does these days.[/quote'] I would say that that could be extended to the whole of Western civilisation, well particulaly USA & Australia. Anyway it is not like that politicians ever prioritise their electorate over the party they belong to, wherein lies the problem with democracy. Not that Cicero was ever in a democray, also wherein lies the problem. So we are back to philosophers, the only people who make sense of politics -- Plato, Rousseau, Machiavelli. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Re: The Last Word Cicero had plenty of democracy, by the standard of his age. He died with the Republic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Re: The Last Word Cicero had plenty of democracy' date=' by the standard of his age. He died with the Republic.[/quote'] are you calling the Roman Republic a democracy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Re: The Last Word The contemporary Greek commentators called the Roman Republic a mishmash of different ways to run a government -- aristocratic thanks to the great influence of the Senate, monarchic thanks to the power invested in the Consuls, and democratic thanks to the various Assemblies. So, yeah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Re: The Last Word Point taken. It was the aristocratic that I was mainly refuting as democratic. Also you have in some sense reveled the government style of the USA, with including democracy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Re: The Last Word One could argue that representative democracy = modern republic. Certainly, there are those who say that Sweden has a republic with a hereditary head of state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Re: The Last Word do you basically define republic as a state without a specific monarchy (king/queen as head of state with succession by family member)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Re: The Last Word The Wikipedia article on Republic. I don't know if that's the "proper" definition or nor, but I think it fits pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 Re: The Last Word can a republic be not a democracy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 Re: The Last Word Sure. If those who may vote for the laws or lawmakers are not a general subsection of the population, then it shouldn't be properly called a democracy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 Re: The Last Word Sure. If those who may vote for the laws or lawmakers are not a general subsection of the population' date=' then it shouldn't be properly called a democracy.[/quote'] so...if i have you right: you could have an elite group -- like the patricians in Rome or "moneyed-elite"--and you would call it a republic but not a democracy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 Re: The Last Word Then there were the socialist republics -- few left now, like North Korea and Cuba. I'd say they lacked in democracy, but structurally they were republics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 Re: The Last Word so...if i have you right: you could have an elite group -- like the patricians in Rome or "moneyed-elite"--and you would call it a republic but not a democracy? As long as it really is a country ruled by law, but only the restricted elite has the power to revise the law, then yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister E Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 Re: The Last Word The contemporary Greek commentators called the Roman Republic a mishmash of different ways to run a government -- aristocratic thanks to the great influence of the Senate' date=' monarchic thanks to the power invested in the Consuls, and democratic thanks to the various Assemblies. So, yeah.[/quote'] Last Wednesday I was at a neighborhood 99% general assembly. Only a few dozen people showed up, but I found it refreshingly agreeable compared to the discussions from senate. With few exceptions there was 100% solidarity. People raised their hands at first and introduced themselves. The officially non-representative of anything hosted the meeting with a brief about himself with an old-school business slideshow. I got to get everybody into a circle after the break*. So far I've detected at least 2 planescape factions present**: One, there was the late comer. The late comer lacked solidarity by always referring to everyone as, "You guys." In doing so I label the late comer a solipsist by false dualism (which I will not justify). That's Sign of One***, I believe. This particular Signer congratulated everyone at the end of the meeting for maintaining their Anonymity, as he suggested doing so would continue to confound the Authorities. Obviously the flattering Signer thought he was dealing with the Free League****. The woman who didn't have much time left was definitely a Sinker (Doomguard*****). She advocated that we all get pickaxes & jackhammers & tear up the pavement in front of the local 7-11. ~ Mister E *My major contribution was cleaning the ashtray. **Not counting myself. ***The Signers believe that everyone is the center of their own reality, and that reality can be reshaped by the power of imagination. Their headquarters is the Hall of Speakers, which houses Sigil's legislature. ****aka, "Indeps." Indeps reject other factions and their bureaucratic, hierarchical dogmatism; in fact, they don't consider themselves a faction at all. For this reason, they don't have a factol or an official headquarters, though Sigil's Great Bazaar serves as an unofficial one. Indeps are all about infiltrating other factions by passing as members (that is their 'wooj'). *****Sinkers believe in the sanctity and inevitability of entropy. They see the decay and destruction of the universe as necessary; for once it is destroyed all imperfections will be gone with it, paving the way for a perfect new world. Their headquarters is Sigil's Armory, where they forge weapons as tools of destruction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Re: The Last Word There have been times in my life when I felt as one with entropy. Those times when we were at the observatory and a major pastime after supper but while the sun was still up was prying boulders up and sending them rolling down the south face of the mountain. Great fun. Noisy, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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