Conservatives Kinder and Sexier

[JerrySeinfeld]

Guilty as charged - and yet I'm still kinder and sexier than you

Did the pig tell you that?

I'm bringin' sexy back(bacon)...

[Higgly]

I am enjoying this, however. Frum's article begins with Eva Longoria's stereotypes about conservatives.

Next thing you know he'll be quoting the National Enquirer.

[BubberMiley]

Yeah, just not one a Nazi pigf**ker would understand.

Usually when someone runs out of arguments they start namecalling. Sticks and stones

Anyway, now that we've established that Eva Longoria's stereotype is basesless let's continue with how conservatives are Kinder and sexier.

Usually when someone's argument has been pathetically defeated, they try to change the subject.

[sunsettommy]

Meanwhile you provided ZERO sources to back up your claims.Zero sourced facts and zero personal experiences to draw from.

Wrong - I have read the finanical statements for two different suburban churches and I know in those cases that almost all of the money was going to pay for buildings and priests. This information is not available online so I cannot satisfy your demands for links. But I am talking from personal experience and I am confident that my statements are accurate. You can insist on denying my point but your denial does not mean it is not true.

Ok ok,

I will not bother you with it anymore.

But I must say that it appears you read confidential? financial reports.

[sunsettommy]

For those of you demanding numbers:

http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060605/d060605a.htm

Charitable giving: Religious organizations largest beneficiaries

Religious organizations got the highest proportion of total donations in 2004, about 45%, or nearly $4.0 billion. Donors to religious organizations made the largest average donations, about $395. Health organizations were second, receiving more than $1.2 billion, or 14% of the total.

Although religious organizations were given more money than other organizations, other organizations have a wider base of support in the population. Almost 6 out of 10 Canadians (57%) made donations to health organizations, 43% donated to social services organizations, and 38% donated to religious organizations.

There it is in black and white. Churches received close to 45% of 'charitable' donations in Canada and people who donate to churches are likely to donate more money than people who donate to other types of charities. This more or less proves that you cannot draw conclusions about the generosity of people based on their total charitable donations unless you also ask how much people donated to charities other than the church they attend.

Thank you.

[sunsettommy]

Nice score, Riverwind. Your comments about churches are bang on.

You gotta wonder how desperate the neocons must be to fall back on this sort of image building. And let's face it, Frum is pretty much a core neocon. Not a major player, but cetainly a visible standard bearer. Too bad he squandered his capital on Junior. He might have had a nice warm home as a spinmeister for Steve et al..

I see little white flags all over the place.

He's not image-building - he's tearing apart stereotypes.

The very fact that we're having this debate is a victory for conservatives.

The main point here is that, just because you believe in a "feel good" ideology doesn't make you any more of a "kind" or "sexy" person and that many (maybe most?) conservatives are kinder and sexier than their liberal counterparts.

So keep on debating, libs. "Me thinks thou protesteth too much"

Huh?

[Riverwind]

But I must say that it appears you read confidential? financial reports.

Such information should available to all members of a church if they ask. It is kind of hard to convince people to donate money if you don't disclose what the money is being spent on. I also believe there are regulatory requirements on charities that issue tax receipts - if you donate money you have a right to know. Seems like common sense to me.

[sunsettommy]

But I must say that it appears you read confidential? financial reports.

Such information should available to all members of a church if they ask. It is kind of hard to convince people to donate money if you don't disclose what the money is being spent on. I also believe there are regulatory requirements on charities that issue tax receipts - if you donate money you have a right to know. Seems like common sense to me.

I agree with you.

The donors themselves should have some privacy,but the dollars given should be visible.

[Higgly]

The donors themselves should have some privacy

I disagree. This is a matter of public policy and these people are being given tax breaks. There is too much room for shenanigans if their identities are kept hidden.

[sunsettommy]

The donors themselves should have some privacy

I disagree. This is a matter of public policy and these people are being given tax breaks. There is too much room for shenanigans if their identities are kept hidden.

The tax collection agency would know who they are.

[Figleaf]

"... a startling conclusion: By virtually every measure, political conservatives are demonstrably more generous, more honest and more public-spirited than political liberals."

By "virtually every measure" employed by Prof. Neocon.

[Figleaf]

However can you provide some evidence to back them up?

What stats are necessary? The gov't treats churches as charities which means that all stats regarding charitable giving includes donations to churches unless someone has gone to the effort to separate them out. It doubt Frum would bother to do that since separating them out would undermine his arguments. I also know from experience that the overwhelming majority of monies donated to Catholic churches go to pay for priests and buildings. The priests do some charity work but the majority of time they spend working with parishioners.

What a asinine assertion. You think it's cheaper to run a church or Unicef?

feel embarrassed yet?

It's not the cost, its who benefits. If you give 10% of your income to your church, but in return your church entertains you on Sunday, babysits your kid, gives you networking opportunities, keeps up a fine physical plant, and pays clergy to minister to you, then that's nothing more than quid pro quo, not charity unless the church really does put significant resources into truly charitable projects.