PocketRocket

Truth to tell, Dog, it'll likely be at least a month before I get a chance to install/setup, whatever the program. I work full-time, have a small business on the side, am doing some minor home renovations, and playing in a band with a few other weekend-warriors. I just visited the website, and saved it to my favorites. Hopefully I'll get a chance to actually check it out before Christmas comes. If not, and if I run into problems, I'll message you, if that's okay. Gonna put you on my friends list (if I can figure out how to do that) so I don't forget who to message. Hey man, you be da 1st on my list. Almost like winning the lottery except you get to stay poor along with the rest of us shmoes

And me too. Thanks for posting that. Very cool stuff. And DogOnPorch: Thanks to you for the "Orbiter" link. Also very cool. I'll be trying that one out soon.

Yes, but Stalin was a naughty boy and he doesn't come around to play any more. They thought they did, but the Russian Orthodox Church survived as many churches have done, by going underground. A different age, a different culture. Could this happen again??? I think it's more likely that a truly charismatic leader could rile up them good ol' southern Christian Fundamentalists and get a real hate-on for all them thar faggots, negras, mooslems, lezbeans et al, and clean up this here continent once an' fer all. I would rather live under a secular government than a religious one. We see several countries in this world which are ruled by religious men, who worship the same God you and I do, and who have made religion part of their government, taking laws and rules from the scriptures. Most of these are in the middle east, and do not particularly like Christians. Still want to combine church and state??? Oh, the wrong church you say??? How about looking back at the history of countries in which there was no separation of church and state??? Can you say "Spanish Inquisition"??? Can you say "Galileo, go directly to jail, do not pass "Go", do not collect $200"??? I really should stop teasing you. Your paranoia is actually beginning to frighten me. And each of the countries you cited have changed their ways because after trying out THAT route for over a half-century, they realized it ain't working. As for Canada, we are light-years away from the sort of thinking that gave rise to Communist Russia and China, and moving further from that place every day. But bottom line is that this entire CONTINENT will never go Communist, simply because we are all, as a people, hooked on capitalism. The two concepts are incompatible with each other. Indeed.

Merry Christmas, my good sir. There. I said it. And strangely, no one is kicking down my door to take me away. I said it to many people last year, and often in public. In fact, I actually said it TO A POLICE OFFICER......and he didn't arrest me. I think he even said it back. Shameful!!!

This is incorrect on two points...... First, Pontius Pilate tried everything in his limited power to let Jesus off the hook. Jesus himself would not co-operate with Pilate when he was being interrogated by him. Pilate was seeking some shred of jutification to release Jesus, but Jesus would not speak in his own defense. Finally, Pilate said "I wash my hands...." in a gesture symbolizing himself having nothing to do with Christ's death. Caiaphas, the high priest, was the puppetmaster behind the scenes, and the real architect of Jesus death. So much for marriage of Church and state. Perhaps you should go back and read Matthew one more time before discussing THIS bit again. Secondly, Pilate was not a "ruler of Rome", he was a governor assigned by Rome to oversee a rural province. I don't deny it, nor do I confirm it. I cannot say for sure whether or not this happened. We have people denying the holocaust, and that event is far more current, and there is far more concrete evidence proving it to be real. The Bible, however, is a tricky thing to use to support an argument. It has caused more wars than it has prevented, all due to it's high ideology, which can be interpreted in many disparate ways. And so is Democracy, and so is Republicanism, Liberalism, Marxism, Socialism and just about any other political movement. Exactly what country do you live in??? Man, I feel for you, brother. Why don't you move to Canada. We welcome ALL religions here, and all people are free to practice and/or preach whatever religion they choose. They are also free to NOT practice any religion they choose. Why just the other day a nice lady knocked on my door and handed me a leaflet which she said contained a message from Jesus. I thanked her, politely lied to her that I was too busy to invite her in for a chat, wished her a good day, then binned it.

If you have a point which is valid and logical, you should be able to defend both the point itself, and your position. This is, after all, a discussion forum. Some would call it a debate forum. Discussion consists of two or more people talking about one or more points, and through conversation measuring the value of those points. If you are afraid to discuss your points, but would rather just keep posting sentences unrelated to what has come before, then you are neither discussing nor debating, you are proselytizing. You have a blog page of your own if that's all you want to do. This forum, on the other hand, is not your personal soapbox. If you say something here, you can expect to have it challenged. Live with it.

I have no idea, Kimmy. In fact, I haven't had one in ages

Both right in that in the cases of both presidents, there were those who cast (figurative) stones at anyone who spoke out against the president. The difference lay only in the cards that were played; in Obama's case, his supporters sometimes play the race card. With Bush, his supporters played the "treason" card. AW: you are an intelligent person, and a good debater. Let's not quibble over small potatoes.

After re-reading this thread, and a long slog it was, I am somewhat baffled by some of the comments denouncing those who consider Obama's election "historic" because a black man was elected. At least one of these people has accused others of being racist because they agree with this view. A person does not have to be racist to make a comment based on race. And the fact that a black man was elected to the highest office in the USA IS a historic event. It is historic because this is in a country where less than 50 years earlier, blacks had to sit in the back of the bus. Were not allowed in some restaurants. Were treated as a lower class of citizen, or even, arguably, as a lower life form. How can one not notice the progress which has culminated in this moment, and not consider it historic??? And yes, when the first female president is elected, that will also be historic. And the first oriental, and the first hispanic and the first transvestite and so forth.

Ummm.....yes, I did notice that. Did you not notice that I said you were right???

A POW is a captured enemy soldier. Many at Gitmo were non-combatants. Many were ordinary civilians with the wrong appearance who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course without being able to take their case to trial they had no legal way to prove this. But then, in that other thread where you and I met, we have already found that in your case, being charged brings with it the automatic assumption of guilt. However...... http://www.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/story/38773.html ....we have people here who not only have NOT been found guilty in a trial, they've not even been CHARGED with anything.. Furthermore.... .....investigations have found that many had no affiliation with the enemy which the USA was fighting. In fact....... http://detainees.mcclatchydc.com/detainees/49 .....at least one of the so-called "POW's" was a crippled old man who could barely walk, and was, in fact, a member of the US-backed congress. So, your term "POW" cannot be held as a valid description of all the people in Gitmo. Some, yes. All??? Absolutely not. In view of the way many of these people who later turned out to be innocent were treated, "Kidnap victim" sound like as good a description as any. But wait, Bush passed a law making it all legal, so I guess we can't use that word "kidnap".

I guess not. Good thing too, or some of the NBA and NHL teams coming up here would be short a few team members.... Yeah yeah yeah. I didn't cite anything. You want cites, just Google "NHL player arrested" or "NBA player arrested". The sheer number of links you'll get speak volumes.

From OP's link...... I think anyone who uses SNL as a source of news has problems of their own Bingo!!!

If you didn't support Bush, you weren't "fine," you were anti-American or a terrorist supporter or a traitor or guilty of treason to the same extent that those who don't support Obama are racists. so I ask you ..... is it sinking in finally?! I think you're both right, but too tied up in your individual mindsets to see it. We've reached a point where the polarization of Left and Right are like nothing we've seen in history. Over the past several years we've been seeing a trend develop wherein the supporters of the president are quick to cast accusations at anyone who does not support the policies of the president. The accusations they choose are simply based on whatever straw is easiest to grasp at.... In Bush's case, there was this national emergency based on America being "at war" with terror, so if you spoke against Bush or his policies "in this time of war", you were treasonous. For Obama supporters, well, they don't have the convenience of a manufactured war to lean on, so they use the one tool they have at their disposal, the race card. In both cases, I should have used the words "some supporters", because many people, arguably most, do NOT stoop to such tactics. Unfortunately we seem to hear the opinion of the louder, more extreme folks a lot more. After all, good soundbites do NOT come from someone who has no complaints.....

Since this is my first encounter with the OP, I'm not yet jaded in my views regarding his habits here, so I'll take a whack at addressing the issue to him..... bjre: The story you present seems to be accurately reported, but it seems like not all the pertinent information is included. However, consider this fact; if we were NOT free, then the event would never have been reported in the news. This is one isolated event in one school. The student was not taken away to jail, but was simply questioned, then released. As to why the police were in the school, I'm not sure, but I suspect it was in response to some student violence in that same school and so the officer was simply making sure that this was a student, and not possibly some thug who was in the school to cause trouble. Do not quote me on that as I am not absolutely sure in this case. But again, in most nations that do NOT have the kind of freedom you speak of, the press would not have been allowed to report on the incident and you would not have ever read about it.

Ah, but when a single mind writes a book detailing what he'd like to do, and how he'd like to do it, it's a far better glimpse into the workings of HIS mind than a collaborative effort. It is also a far better indicator of what a single person is capable of. In the case of Hitler's book, it outlined his beliefs, what he felt was a problem, what he felt needed to be done about said problem, and a basic roadmap of how he was going to get it done. Neither Bible nor Q'uran are ever so specific, and both can be interpreted in as many ways as there are people to read them. However, for causing general, non-predictable, widely varied destructive behaviours amongst those who are extreme in their beliefs, I have to agree with your assessment.

All books??? Really??? You don't think any books should be banned??? Think carefully before you reply...... ???

You may have misinterpreted my intent. I was not trashing the book, nor was the statement about banning the book. On the contrary, as a snapshot, it is a valuable learning tool for those who would avoid such destructive behavior in the future. As to the two tomes you mentioned, neither is the product of a single mind.

In a somewhat related story.... :lol:

I must admit to being somewhat pleasantly surprised that no one has brought race/religion into this topic yet. Still, I wonder if the same decision would have been made if the CEO was not a Jewish person. That aside, I see the book as a historical oddity, and a glimpse into a truly twisted mind. But even more, it's a snapshot of a toolbox full of tools that can be used to fool an entire population into walking down a destructive path.

I find that agreeable

Has anyone found any other links to this story? The link OP provided (thank you for that) was mighty short on detail. As to the issue itself......I'm sorry to say but USA took it upon herself to imprison them, USA can see to re-settling them.

Actually, no. But putting words in peoples' mouths seems to be a habit around here, so I should have expected this. For further explanation regarding the tone of my post, see below.... Agreed on all points IF this had actually happened. Read the article again. It's a hypothetical story about what "could" happen, hence my original tongue-in-cheek reply. Even though such legislation MAY come about, I strongly doubt that they'd send police and locksmith to break into her home. If that actually happened, the press would be all over it, it would probably get international attention, and the city would be more embarassed than if they had simply allowed a thousand such signs to stand.

Riverwind: thanks for the reply. If I may....... That's more than the value of my house. However, there is a flaw in your analogy. If my house burns down, I can build another. If we make the planet uninhabitable, it would be kinda hard to replace it. No question. Warmth is warmth, whether it's caused by the sun or by a fire. True again, but the fact that significant measurable increases in amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere have occurred in recent times should give us some cause for concern, even if it's not directly related to warming. The planet's atmosphere has evolved over millions of years, right along with the flora and fauna. Is it wise to tamper too much with such a delicate mixture??? Anyone dealing with such a huge collection of variable as a planet's atmosphere, or any ecosytem for that matter, is bound to miss something. The science guys can only do the best they can, but science also evolves....

I've always been a member of the "We're not absolutely sure one way or the other, so why take chances" camp. If we are indeed in for 10-20 or even 30 years of "cooler" temperatures, we can see what happens with all those glaciers which have receded in recent times. Whether or not they start making a comeback should give us a fairly good yardstick....