Re: a comment on I saw Your Face Last Night by Dovina	Dovina 66.13.145.210	13-Dec-05/9:43 AM
Thank you.
Re: a comment on Indian Song by ALChemy	LilMsLadyPoet 207.69.137.42	13-Dec-05/9:42 AM
I went and read, and thought...nope! Not the same thing at all. You get credit for two languages, that is all, Zodiac. What Alchemy did is different, and intellectualy very stimulating for all involved. :>Intellegence versus education. Creativity versus regurgitation. Art that involves and engages the looker-on versus art for display purposes.
Re: a comment on Bri's Room (not done) by Sunshine Conkey	zodiac 69.132.67.140	13-Dec-05/9:41 AM
Perhaps I've made it sound like I'm saying financial good fortune is the only cause of intelligence, or only people from well-off backgrounds are intelligent, or no poor people are. I'm saying none of these things. It is, however, easily proveable that (1) on average, people from wealthier backgrounds score higher IQs than people from poorer backgrounds, (2) education has a direct influence on IQ scores, even though IQ is supposed to test some natural intelligence separate from mere learned information or skills. That's not a particularly pleasant (or even useful) thing to say. But it's true. I see no basis for saying bad fortune causes intelligence. I've lived among all kinds of poor, middle-class, and upper-class people, and not seen any extra intelligence on the parts of poorer peoples. From personal experience I can tell you the only thing keeping 90% of Arabs alive right now is stubborn adherence to traditional ways of doing things - ways modern Arabs have no intelligence, or understanding, about. Anyway, I've seen the studies. The differences continue right across the board. I think we can agree we're not talking about KNOWLEDGE (ie, long division, or the elusive capital of North Dakota); we're talking about intelligence, which *should* be (and mostly is) a measure of problem-solving, critical-thinking, and pattern-finding abilities, among other things distinct from knowledge. These shouldn't be affected by standardized education, but they are. Wealthier people have greater access to education; ergo, higher IQ on average. Comfort is the greatest promoter of innovation. Otherwise, how is America (and, specifically, moderately well-off America) the leader in every kind of innovation, while NO poor country or culture has innovated anything of note since fire? Yes, America has more resources and opener social norms pushing for innovation, but how did America get those resources and norms. Mostly by innovation. On another track, I bet you'd be hard-pressed to name 5 political, artistic, or technological innovators who weren't from well-off backgrounds, if not well-off at the time of their innovations. I don't have the figures with me, but if I were forced to guess (at gunpoint, natch,) I'd say the statistical difference between various income levels' IQs is greater than the difference across genetic lines. Otherwise, how do you explain that America (ie, the most diverse genetic pool ever) is more intelligent by every measure than, say, Japan (ie, a more-or-less homogenous group proven to be genetically inclined toward intelligence)? I don't agree with any of the rest of your comment, for reasons which should be obvious. Making a point with Ayn Rand? That's shaky. Very shaky.
Re: a comment on Due Consideration by Dovina	LilMsLadyPoet 207.69.137.42	13-Dec-05/9:30 AM
Crap...ignore the typos...that DO exist...I admit that much, since they are there, and they do exist. No amount of not admiting will make them not exist.
Re: a comment on Due Consideration by Dovina	LilMsLadyPoet 207.69.137.42	13-Dec-05/9:25 AM
If it exists, then it IS..there fore it IS whether you admit it or not. And wether you instist that it IS or not. A is A.(Because you acknowledge A to begin with.)
Re: a comment on Bri's Room (not done) by Sunshine Conkey	LilMsLadyPoet 207.69.137.42	13-Dec-05/9:14 AM
I'm sorry, but when I see the words 'socialism and civic responsibility'...'institutions' that 'collectively' mandate you help a worthless neighbor, that you OWE something to anybody who has his hand out, that your sweat, labour, and reward should be used to raise 'the collective' of people needing your assistance...well...I stop listening. Responsible citizenship, to me, does not mean "responsible to and for the citizens".
Re: a comment on Bri's Room (not done) by Sunshine Conkey	LilMsLadyPoet 207.69.137.42	13-Dec-05/8:59 AM
Please do! I do not believe good fortune (ie: wealth, money) is the Cause of intellegence. I couldn't disagree more!(If you mean:I have had the good fortune to be raised in a family with good fortune and money, therefore it has afforded me an intellgence above average.") (If you mean good fortune to mean fate, genes..then yes...as in: "I have had the good fortune to be born into an intellgent family.") That staement would apply. Bad fortune is the cause, means, and ways to gaining experience and intellegence. When one fails, stumbles, and questions, then one learns something new. (The exception being those who literally live in a survivalist mode, as they have no time for thought past the food or need they must procure for themselves for the day.) Good fortune (ie: money, wealth) pays for EDUCATION (the generically produced, propoganda-laden one sponsored by the collective forces that be), but money can not buy, nor breed intellgence! Comfort, via good fortune, does not compell one to investigation, experimentation, innovation, invention...etc. When all is said and done, genes play the bigger part in intellegence than any other one marker. And anyone who is inherantly intellegent will be driven to educate one's self.That drive and curiousity, being a distinct marker of that intellegence. I am of the firm belief that educating a man past his intellegence level is a dangerous thing. It creates monsters, who know they are given the position of power that surpasses their inborn capacity and intellectual worth, they know that those under them many times are actually above them....not a good thing...they become caustic, to themselves, and to anyone around them who hold the real power of intellgence. Ever read Fountain Head, or Atlas Shrugged? Point made.
Re: a comment on The Third Fall Of Jesus by amanda_dcosta	zodiac 69.132.67.140	13-Dec-05/8:12 AM
Sorry, I just answered my own question.
Re: a comment on The Third Fall Of Jesus by amanda_dcosta	zodiac 69.132.67.140	13-Dec-05/8:11 AM
Then why'd Jesus make him such a hapless cripple?
Re: a comment on The Third Fall Of Jesus by amanda_dcosta	amanda_dcosta 203.145.159.44	13-Dec-05/8:10 AM
-=Dark_Angel=- ; Jesus loves you the way you are!
Re: Oh Merry Fay (part 1) by ALChemy	zodiac 69.132.67.140	13-Dec-05/8:09 AM
This reads like a Mondegreen, I don't know of what. On the surface it's, um, entrancing. As far as punctuation, drop the periods at the ends of lines 1, 3, 4, s2line3, s4line3, s7line4. Add periods s2line5 and s5line7. You might also consider a comma at the end of s2line3, s3line4, s4line3. Other than that, I'm afraid to comment, though I feel like you might have meant "snared" instead of "snarred", "Their" instead of "They're" in the same stanza, and another word besides "girthly". But who am I to say? 8th generation Irish-American, that's what.
Re: Oh Merry Fay (part 1) by ALChemy	zodiac 69.132.67.140	13-Dec-05/7:25 AM
Am I missing what the original song was?
Re: a comment on War (edit) by zodiac	ALChemy 24.74.101.159	13-Dec-05/5:30 AM
Hogwash. You love to being pigeonholed as The Guy Who Makes Weird Metaphors. Your last statement could be a metaphor for the entire country. We're just reflecting the place we live in. This is usually the case in most art.
Re: a comment on War (edit) by zodiac	ALChemy 24.74.101.159	13-Dec-05/5:24 AM
Personally I think, cliche as it is, that there's something about the south, and maybe Ireland, that says welcome home.
Re: a comment on War (edit) by zodiac	zodiac 69.132.67.140	13-Dec-05/4:31 AM
I'd hate to be pigeonholed as The Guy Who Makes Weird Metaphors. You know, Classical allusions are kind of all the rage again in modern poetry. If you've, say, made a vow never to allude Classically in a poem, ever, what can you do to compete? As it happens, I thought this one was too obvious. Especially with the added lines. Maybe we've gotten lazy and metaphorless on poemranker.
Re: a comment on War (edit) by zodiac	zodiac 69.132.67.140	13-Dec-05/4:20 AM
Yeah. It's Paradise here. I walk around all day with a stupid grin on my face, ogling grass, trees, fire hydrants. Being abroad has either made me even more southern or some breed of terrier.
Re: a comment on Towards the Sun or The keeper of the bay they call a pond by somemorepoetry	zodiac 69.132.67.140	13-Dec-05/4:11 AM
I seriously thought of 'A' first. Jesus, I have been gone awhile.
Re: a comment on I saw Your Face Last Night by Dovina	ALChemy 24.74.101.159	13-Dec-05/3:20 AM
You should have seen him on book TV(alive and well I might add). I think he's going a little senile.
Re: a comment on Bri's Room (not done) by Sunshine Conkey	ALChemy 24.74.101.159	13-Dec-05/3:12 AM
I'm thinking the campaign your on is for responsible citizenship as de Tocqueville would put it. Lord knows we could start with our president. de Tocqueville's got a nice fish out of water perspective of America.
Re: a comment on Bri's Room (not done) by Sunshine Conkey	ALChemy 24.74.101.159	13-Dec-05/3:05 AM
Here: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/home.html