Stupid is as stupid does and stupidity votes Obama

[Asher]

I don't need to buy my grades.

I do know that my professors wouldn't consider selling them.

How do you know that they would? Did that happen at U Calgary?

You're so naiive...

It's not the public Canadian universities that are known for political/financial manipulation of academics, it's typically the private big-name American ones.

Hell, this happens all the time with many of the football players on a lesser level. They must maintain minimum grades, sure -- but many of the teachers are compelled to ensure they do meet those minimum grades.

[regexcellent]

Football players are professional athletes in all but name.

Carnegie Mellon has no Division 1 sports. Football players there get no special consideration, they get no academic scholarships, and they play because they enjoy the game.

And that kind of thing is what happens at large colleges, mainly large land-grant or state flagship universities like Penn State, UMich, Texas A&M, etc. Big private universities can be associated with this as well like Notre Dame.

Buying grades is not something that is associated with American schools. I know someone from Kazakhstan here at RIT who came the the United States because he wanted a degree where people wouldn't connect the dots between corrupt Kazakh or Russian universities and his wealthy father.

[Ben Kenobi]

How do you know that they would? Did that happen at U Calgary?

It's quite well known that in Canada - folks who don't speak English well go to special 'academies', where everyone passes. They then get their English requirements and then usually pay people to write essays and stuff for them.

So yes - they do buy their grades in Canada, it's quite common and quite well known.

And yes - I've seen it. Saw it especially in UBC.

[Ben Kenobi]

The Bible tends to also say tattoos are an abomination - though, of course, that was prior to Jesus's exortation to live by the Spirit and not the Law. Jesus was also adamant that the law boils down to one should love God (by worship & praise - not by slavishly following rules) and love others. Doing anything contrary to that would be sinful.

That doesn't answer my question - Imran. You're a Christian now. Do you believe that you can love the sinner and still hate the sin? Saying that, 'we ought to love another', doesn't change how you justify your position on homosexuality. Saying that we shouldn't 'blindly follow the book', doesn't answer the question as to how you decide what is sin.

Do you feel that a Christian is obliged to follow what Christ says - or what he himself believes even if what he believes contradicts what Christ explicitly says?

What do you make of it when Christ says, "he made them male and female", when he discusses how marriage ought to work in Matthew 19?

I was a convert just like you, remember. I've been through it - just like you and got the same questions just like you. I used to support gay marriage until I realized I didn't truly understand what Christian marriage is all about. This was after, not before my conversion.

[Ben Kenobi]

How exactly am I troubled? I'm a happy easy-going young man (old man, soon) in a long-term, committed relationship and a very successful career and great group of friends. Why am I troubled?

I view you as troubled because of how you say things and what you choose to say. Telling other people that they should commit suicide isn't the sign of a balanced mind. You are angry - very angry. Have pretty much always been so for as long as I can remember. You looked very old, last I saw of you - like you've been through the wringer and then some. I was shocked - you looked at least 10 years older than I do and I am older than you. What's happened to you in the interim, Asher?

You view me as troubled because I have zero tolerance for bigots and those that enable them. Life is too short to be nice to everyone. Some people are not worth the time. You are not worth the time.

And I see things differently. People did not give up on me and took the time to set me aside and talk to me. I feel the same about you. There is a better way and I hope you will eventually come to see things that way.

HC perceives what he perceives because his brain isn't mature enough to process complex information. He doesn't understand the world yet and he dismisses contradictory opinions of the world because of it. You and HC are similar, except he's mentally more mature than you are. But you both have a long way to go. The difference is you've already reached your limit.

It's not just HC that has commented on this in both public and private the similarities. You can dismiss it all you want, I'm just telling you - this is the case. This is what other people have told me.

[Imran Siddiqui]

That doesn't answer my question - Imran. You're a Christian now. Do you believe that you can love the sinner and still hate the sin? Saying that, 'we ought to love another', doesn't change how you justify your position on homosexuality.

Do you feel that a Christian is obliged to follow what Christ says - or what he believes even if what he believes contradicts what Christ explicitly says?

What do you make of it when Christ says, "he made them male and female", when he discusses how marriage ought to work in Matthew 19?

I was a convert just like you, remember. I've been through it - just like you and got the same questions just like you. I used to support gay marriage until I realized I didn't truly understand what Christian marriage is all about. This was after, not before my conversion.

Don't try to patronize me, Ben. I do most definitely understand what Christian marriage is about. Christ said he made them male and female because that is what the people he was speaking to understood. God reveals what we can understand, which is why the Holy Spirit was sent to continue His revelation - as it was for slavery and equal rights for women, so it shall be for homosexuality as His will slowly and surely is revealed. I trust you have heard of John Calvin's Doctrine of Accommodation?

I think we can love the sinner and hate the sin, but the line can get quickly fuzzy, and all too often those who claim it in the realm of homosexuality fall into a very non-loving position.

I think you also forget that I had a homosexual pastor and my denomination, the ELCA, accepts homosexual pastors in monogamous homosexual relationships, through the discernment of the Holy Spirit and a, in my view, proper reading of Scripture.

[Imran Siddiqui]

IYou looked very old, last I saw of you - like you've been through the wringer and then some. I was shocked - you looked at least 10 years older than I do and I am older than you. What's happened to you in the interim, Asher?

Uhh... he looks pretty young to me. Late 20s from his Facebook pictures. What do you expect him to look?

[Jaguar]

You're so naiive...

It's not the public Canadian universities that are known for political/financial manipulation of academics, it's typically the private big-name American ones.

Not to my knowledge. Or are you going to say I don't "know how the world works" and that I don't have "real life experience" with Yale either?

[Asher]

I view you as troubled because of how you say things and what you choose to say. Telling other people that they should commit suicide isn't the sign of a balanced mind. You are angry - very angry. Have pretty much always been so for as long as I can remember. You looked very old, last I saw of you - like you've been through the wringer and then some. I was shocked - you looked at least 10 years older than I do and I am older than you. What's happened to you in the interim, Asher?

You're an idiot.

It's not just HC that has commented on this in both public and private the similarities. You can dismiss it all you want, I'm just telling you - this is the case. This is what other people have told me.

People who hold conversations with you in private probably share the same mental disabilities you do.

[Asher]

Not to my knowledge. Or are you going to say I don't "know how the world works" and that I don't have "real life experience" with Yale either?

Just because you went to Yale doesn't mean you can say people can't buy grades there. It just means you did not.

An intelligent person would know this without applying too much thought. Maybe if you sit down and think about it for another hour or two, you and HC can be on the same page as brighter people.

[regexcellent]

Cheating and grade-buying tend to make the rumor mill one way or another. He was at Yale and did not hear stories about it, and like most graduates he is probably concerned with current goings-on of the university. If you knew about any evidence of cheating, he almost certainly would too.

[Jaguar]

You're way, way into "making things up" territory here.

If you want to know whether athletes take gut classes like "Geometry of Nature?" Yes, they do. But they don't pay extra money to do so.

[regexcellent]

The one really shameful part of college sports is the fact that they are profit-making ventures hidden from taxes behind a non-profit and tax-exempt university.

Then again, imagine what constituents would do if Congress said "Let's tax college football." It would be like banning Christmas.

[Asher]

You're way, way into "making things up" territory here.

If you want to know whether athletes take gut classes like "Geometry of Nature?" Yes, they do. But they don't pay extra money to do so.

No, they don't. The school takes the money from their games and the teachers pass them so they can do so.

It's so very complicated, I know. You're a complete tool if you think most of those college football players could get a degree if they weren't making the school so much money.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

You really can't make a credible claim of Romney being stupid.

You can make a pretty strong case for him being a tactless buffoon with an impressive ability to repel previously-neutral parties. In political circles, that's probably a passable substitute for stupid.