roman totale

The problem is that the GOP is fixated on this idea that they need someone who is a religious fanatic. There are plenty of voters out there who dislike Obama and value smaller government, less spending, and lower taxes but don't want someone who's a fanatic on moral issues. +1 I know you were not attempting to infer this, but moral issues can be tackled with absolutely no reference to religious beliefs.

You don't change the Constitution AT ALL. It's like changing the Bible. The bible's been changed plenty over the years...

My local Tea Party pulled in a massive 347 people (organizer estimates, so likely inflated to include anyone who happened to walk past during the event). Judging by the pics in the local paper half of these were militia crazies and the other half were their young children who weren't old enough to form an excuse for not being dragged along...

modern American fiction eh? :blink:

You don't think that government schools don't indoctrinate? Of course I'm not talking about religion here but if we are talking about a "well-educated society" it is certainly worth mentioning. I agree 100%, it's certainly part of the wider debate. I didn't have a US education, but my kids do. They are still quite young, but I do get surprised with how some "facts" about history and America's place in the world order are presented to them...

It's not my place to tell you what benefits religion may have to you it's different for everybody I think :lol Now that's gold. Couldn't you just, like, generalise a little just for the sake of at least attempting to prove a point...? I'd like to know how many churches have you gone to with an open mind? It's not my place to.... j/k. I've been to plenty.

See this is where your close-mindedness comes in. The benefits of religion do not come from validating as a fact the extraordinary claims they do make. Go on then, please tell me some of these benefits and how they are the *exclusive* property of religion. Just one example will do...

Disagree. I think a 'better educated' society comes from having diverse schools and having less close minded people like you. Wrong. I'm extremely open-minded and will happily believe that religion of any form has benefits the day anyone can actually validate objectively anything any of them claim. In the meantime all it does is impose close-minded thinking (look up "dogma" in the dictionary) that ergo can do nothing other than impede educated points of view. Hence my comments.

Good. Less dogma = a better educated society.

Now is the time for all those idiots who voted for him twice to hang their heads in shame... There's old saying where I come from; Vote for me, shame on you you fool. Shame me twice and, er...

Let's get a couple of things straight; Kaka has rejected the move to Man City He never even spoke to City officials. City walked away after meeting Milan officials and Berlesconi. no one has talked about the discusting amount of money ManCity is throwing out there for Kaka? ... 236 MILLION POUNDS ... that's close to $500.000.000 ... that's 500 MILLION DOLLARS Those figures, which the entire world's media have jumped on, came from (wait for it) Berlesconi controlled media outlets in Italy. City never mentioned a single number in any announcements, nor did they even talk numbers with Milan. Yes, I'm a City fan as all good born and bred Mancunians are... :thumbup

I recommend that you read the book that I am reading right now, which is called 'The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy' by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt. The two authors go through all of the common 'myths' about the peace process, like the myth that it was Yassir Arafat's fault that the last round of peace talks failed in 2000. It's really good, and well-researched. Seconded, an excellent book. Some of the younger posters on here would do well to read it as a counter-balance to the embarrassingly weak, subservient and petrified media coverage of the whole subject of the US & Israel. If anyone is thinking of reading the book, just go out and buy it. Don't look for reviews as, unfortunately, it's been subjected to the usual smear-job...

Also, they say terrorism started when Israel was created. It's certain that early Zionist terrorist atrocities provided the template for a lot of modern activities on all sides... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing

Teal all the way :thumbup If orange was forced upon us, I guess this color scheme wouldn't be *too* bad... http://cgi.ebay.com/Florida-Marlins-New-Er...A1%7C240%3A1318

The Bible teaches us not to hate anybody WTF :blink: Have you actually read it..??

That's tremendously insulting. You're clearly saying that you're more of an authority than Bob, and that his experiences and perceptions are invalid. Don't bandy words x2 edit: I'd love to see the religious board/topic back here on marlinsbaseball. So you can continue to proselytize and keep spreading your narrow-mindedness and prejudices...? Spending a lot more than 2-3 minutes a week reading about, discussing, and pondering religion, spirituality, and existence is how I came to be an atheist in the first place. Yep - just a modicum of introspection reveals all religion for what is it truly is... Trouble is, most people are afraid of freethinking and the institutions that need mindless andriods like to keep them that way...

That her interpretation of the good book is lacking as she has shown nothing but bigot racism in the past and foolish ignorance Hmmm... I'd contend that demonstrates she's got a pretty good handle on the so-called 'good book'... :mischief

Reminds me of around this time in 2004, we had a double-header against the Expos. If we won both games we were still very much in the WC race, but some hurricane or other had blown through the week before, plus it was a weekday. The games had been quite hyped as make or break for the season and I distinctly remember the looks on the player's faces as they hit the field to an empty stadium. When Pavano threw the first pitch in game 1, I counted 250 people in the stands and it didn't pick up that much all day. It definitely affected their attitude and they played like crap. We lost both games and the season was done...

I'm consoling myself with the fact that, contrary to his expectations, Jerry Falwell has simply ended up as a heap of old bones somewhere.

This wasn't on this list, but I've heard Oscar Wilde had a strange one. Supposedly he was pretty openly homosexual and commented on the appearance of the curtains in the room before he died. I might have my stories crossed or that just might be an urban legend though... There are various opinions on the exact words he used, but staring at the garish decor as he lay dying in his Paris hotel room, he said "It's either me or the wallpaper. One of us has to go" These last words things are amusing, but about 99% of them are totally unverifiable and 98% are just fabricated...

And people wonder why sh*t like Haditha happens. I used to give the benefit of the doubt, thinking that any young man in a tense situation could understandably develop an itchy trigger finger. However, nowadays I'm much more inclined to believe that war zones are treated like one big consequence-less Nintendo game by people who have no respect for anyone or anything outside of their own, extremely limited, frames of reference...

Good to see the Marines rounding up America's best and brightest minds... :lol

I haven't laughed that long and hard since I first saw 'Life of Brian' 25 years ago... :notworthy

If you actually went there you would see it's a beautiful country populated by very pleasant people. If I'd judged the USA based only on what I know of it's leadership and foreign policy, I would never have come on holiday here, nor eventually moved here. But I took the time to really know the country...

big brother is gaining speed and strength It sure is... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6103056.stm