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The summary is not so nice, because it left out an important detail: Where the eclipse will be visible.

That, and the small fact that this is (reportedly) another harbinger of the end times. CBN has the Christian perspective: http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cw...

the issue with Gab is that it explicitly allows speech that Paypal does not.

No, the issue is that Gab takes the platform / common carrier position while facebook and twitter exercise a degree of editorial control. This means that Gab is not liable for hosted content while facebook and twitter are.

it would be pretty bad if banks started booting customers who said things they didn't like.

Really?

There is a vast difference between the statement "most terrorists are Muslim" and "most Muslims are terrorists." While your statement may be factually true, the conclusion you're implying from it is not.

I mean hell if we want to take your line of thinking to a stupid extreme: Straight men have started and controlled pretty much every war and tragedy in human history, so I guess we should just get rid of them? Time for heterophobia to get going already! Oh wait, your logic should only apply when you want it to? How convenient.

First off, pretty sure I didn't say most Muslims are terrorists, that is a straw man argument popularized by Obama and the Left, and no one else makes it.

Sorry, but you are buying into the PC/Islamist propaganda. Muslims make up just 3% of the US population, yet they are the only religious group to carry out multiple, organized, religiously motivated mass murders in the last 30 years. Islam is a violent religion, and while not all Muslims are active terrorists, a poll a while back indicated that 30% of US Muslims agree with radical violence against the US. Time and again we have seen half assed Muslims pick up arms and become hardcore fanatics and subsequently murder US citizens (Nidal Hassan, San Bernadino, Florida gay bar, etc.) You may not like the reality, it may not agree with your worldview, but it is reality none the less. I know Muslims in my personal life, and I take them as individuals, but I also don't turn my back on them and I would never trust them like I would a fellow American with a Judeo-Christian background, because I have read the Koran cover to cover and I know that it condones the deception and murder of non-believers for gain among other things. Liberals want to project their morality onto Muslims, but the reality is there to see, just look at Muslim majority nations: women are treated horribly, raped, subject to honor killings, child rape is rampant, there is no freedom of religious worship, homosexuals are routinely murdered, minorities like Jews are singled out and persecuted and Islam is involved in 17 of the 19 active wars around the world. Islam is not a religion of peace and they are diametrically opposed to what most US liberals hold dear. The cognitive dissonance in the left is truly amazing.

And no, white hetero males have not "started and controlled pretty much every war and tragedy in human history" that is just the liberal brainwashing you have been fed. I am immune to such bullshit because I actually know history. Here are a few examples of non-white-hetero "war and tragedy":

World war 2 Japan was pretty evil and murdered and brutalized millions of Chinese as well as US POWs (they are not "white" last time I checked)
If you want a homosexual example, how about Jeffrey Dahmer, he was pretty evil too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Pol pot the Asian dictator murdered around 2.5 million of his own people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Mao Tse Tung: communists in China (not white Anglos) murdered millions of innocents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
The communist north Koreans have murdered at least a million of their own citizens since the revolution.
Muslims have started over 100 wars since 600 AD and have killed millions: http://www1.cbn.com/churchandm...

On the other side of the coin, the US has been controlled by white male presidents since it's founding and has been almost universally a force for good in the world. Our one blemish, slavery, was inherited from MUSLIMS (yes, they started and ran the majority of the African slave trade as well as the white slave trade in the Mediterranean). The US stopped slavery, first by sendin

I'm afraid you have an overly optimistic view of Islamic conquest. Let me give you a link to help you open your eyes a bit: http://www1.cbn.com/churchandm...

One sees there a plethora of massacres, genocides and mass killings done by Muslims. Where they alone in that? No, Christians did their share (Buddhists far less, if one is honest), however, far LESS than Muslim conquest has done.And mostly, in regard to the crusades and other fights against Muslims, it was *in response* to the conquest of Christian grounds and land. Meaning, if the Muslims hadn't INVADED and CONQUERED Christian lands and countries, they wouldn't have had such a reaction neither. I couldn't find any specifics on the conquest of Spain to demonstrate unambigiously that the killings done by Muslims there is 'less' than those of Christians, but in any case it seems rather overly naive to think Muslims didn't kill off civilians and innocents at all, when they clearly had no problem doing it everywhere else.

But, regardless, I'm willing to gleen over all that, since it's in the far history, and during those times violence was rampant everywhere. It's of little use trying to convince whomever was 'the bloodiest' hundreds of years ago. Of far more concern is, how Muslims react NOW, in current times. And in this respect, it does not bode well.

http://www.pewforum.org/2013/0...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

As one can see, a majority of Muslims in Muslim-countries, and even a significant large proportion of Muslims in Western countries have ideas and beliefs that are antithetic with the mores, rules, and values of Western democracies. We're not talking about terrorists here, we're talking about *radical views* hold *by* Muslims, which is much broader then straight out terrorism, but still - even more so, I would claim - a danger to the continuation of Western democracies with their values derived from the Enlightenment.

It is THAT which is *really* worrying, though less visible and less openly violent than beheadings of ISIS. Unless there is a drastic reformation of Islam, such as has happened to Christianity, I claim the following: Islam is unreconcilable with, and a danger to, Western, democratic values based on the enlightenment, and, if we do not (re)act against this, it will - in the long term - mean the end of our era. It's clear as daylight, you can not have or maintain our Western system if Muslims continue to flood in (or breed and propagate faster and more in the Western countries than the original populace) while remaining as insensitive to integration and incorporation of our values as they are today (and ever have been).

Note that I'm not talking about race. Race is not the problem. I'm also no racist. Raise Blacks, Berbers, whatever, up from infancy in ones' own culture, and they ARE and BEHAVE like one of us. I'm saying it's the culture and mentality that is the problem. 40% of British Muslims want the Sharia to be the supreme law, trumping any other laws. 40%!! That's HUGE. That's like, a thousand times more and higher than when you would ask an original, born-and-raised Brit. I find it peculiar that the danger of this is not more than apparent to the left. If you take in a million refugees, as German did, and 40% of them wants to introduce sharia-law, one has to be blind and stupid not to see how this will create tensions and huge societal problems for your own civilisation and society. Yet, the West turns a blind eye. It's incomprehensible. It's like cultural suicide, and we're doing it to ourselves, like a bunch of lemmings.

Even the 'moderate Muslim' should be worried, in fact. At least those who wanted to escape from sharia law and the oppression of their home countries. If this keeps up, I foresee the end of our current Western model by the end of the 21ste century, if not sooner. This is not Islamophobia, it's just an observation and logically deduced analysis.

Sweden ain't what it used to be, either. And that article's from 7 years ago. It's gotten worse now.

Muslim extremists terrorize Egypt's Coptic Christians

Turkey Suppressing Christian Worship

Christians Flee Bosnia Amid Discrimination, Islamization

Indonesia Closing Churches, Yet Faith Still Grows

Christian persecution is likely only second to Chinese persecution in Indonesia. I worked with some one that was born in Indonesia that was both a Christian and Chinese. It wasn't easy for him there. He immigrated to the US when he graduated from college.

Ah, so it never applied to you. You heard their stories and assumed how horrible it must have been when the big bad wolf came for their livelihoods. I am glad they got out of running a business because it is not for the weak. If you are an SP or LLC with pass through, and you are not able to make it with a personal AGI of over $250K, something is very wrong.

Actually, it cost me $132,000 personally. I keep enough float that it's not an issue, but I'm pretty sure I could use that money better than the California government can use it.

Considering business get to deduct their expenses, it sounds like poor planning on their part, being over stretched with debt.

Uh, how in the HELL do you PLAN for a RETROACTIVE tax?!?!?

As a small business owner myself, I don't have sympathy for those that run companies on the edge because anything can happen to wipe you out. They should have gone to their bank and tapped their line of credit or gotten a bridge loan. If they are not in the financial position to have access to either of those sources of cash, they should not have gone into business.

Obviously, you don't run a cash flow business; you don't run a small car mechanic, or a hair salon, or a laundromat or a Subway or Quizno's franchise.

Tech companies offer the 401k for retirement purposes. RSUs are used as form of incentive compensation. If these people are using an RSU for retirement purposes, they need to find a competent financial adviser. If people don't understand the risks with RSUs and sign the grant agreement, they only have themselves to blame. Worst case, reject the grant.

You can't possibly retire in California on a 401K, or even a 401K + social security. If they raised the contribution caps SUBSTANTIALLY, then yes, maybe you could, but unless you are a total fiscal idiot, you have to realize that 401K + SSI is not even going to cover the property tax on a home in San Francisco.

Wow, that is some type of crazy. This is the sky is falling trope that the conservative and libertarian groups like to throw around. The wealthy have not left in droves. Elon Musk still lives in Bel Air, Tim Cook still live in Palo Alto, Larry Ellison still lives in Woodside. The people leaving the state in droves are in the bottom 50% and those hitting their retirement age, and this is due to the cost of living.

The people you are citing have more money than God. They aren't "millionaires", they're billionaires, and they can take the hit, since most of their income is sheltered anyway.

But where's Eduardo Saverin living again? Oh yeah, he gave up his US citizenship because he was (effectively) paid $67M by the state of California alone to do it (and another $30M or so by the fed).

Other people moving out of state due to taxes:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/20...
http://www.sfgate.com/business...

250 companies:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/fin...

Small business and family consequences:
"It's really going to hit the small business owners and the young family that's trying to accumulate enough to raise a family, maybe send their kids to private school. It'll kick them in the teeth."
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB...

Historical study for "millionaire tax" in Maryland:
"The Change Maryland study found that the tax cost Maryland $1.7 billion in lost tax revenues."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/4812044...

Actual numbers (scroll down past

They can but they won't. Fissile material has an isotopic signature that's as unique as your DNA.

Which doesn't matter, because the world dithers for a few years accusing Iran of providing the material, Iran denying this, right up until Iran has what they feel like are enough nuclear weapons.

Citation needed.
Ok, not quite ready but basically ready by the time Iran wants to use them. I should have said "under development", and the agreement reached does nothing to alter the development of ICBMs (which historically were included in other nuclear treaties since a big part of what makes nuclear weapons imposing is where they can reach).

They're not proof against precision nuclear strikes, nothing is, and that's exactly the type of attack the United States would be most apt to launch in response to a nuclear attack.

I'm highly dubious we'd actually do so. Crossing that nuclear line is too high a bar now, even in response to a nuclear attack.

How many of the sites does Iran purposefully locate next to major population centers...

You betray your ignorance by lumping ISIS in with the Iranians; they're actually mortal enemies.

You betray a lack of reading comprehension. I didn't say they were together; I said they wanted the same thing. That is very different...

They seek to regain that glory.

Lots of glory to be had in death.

The Cold War saying "trust, but verify" applies here.

Only problem is we know they cannot be trusted, and we will not be able to verify.

You seem to be arguing that monogamy is a good thing, which it is not. A 50+% divorce rate proves this.

The divorce rate is actually 20-25%.

Yes but that food is already being grown

What the fook are you talking about? Israelis grow food in their own desert. The same methods can be used in Sahara and all other "hot" deserts — including the giant Sinai peninsula, which remains bare and barren since its return to Egypt.

It is possible and we know how to do it. We aren't doing it, but we can. And, should a compelling need arise, we will.

(and the water being overexploited)

There is no such thing.

I'm not sure that can be done cost effectively just yet.

It does not need to be done today. By 2100 we will be able to.

But those places are mostly not suitable for growing crops.

False. Ample food can be grown in American Midwest as it is.

And the hot deserts can also be turned around very nicely. Earth can easily grow a lot more food than it does. It would be nice to waste less of it too...

And we can — with nuclear or fusion reactors...

Quantity of people is not a problem — not now, not in 2100. Quality, on the other hand, has always been a problem...

Seriously? Twitter? Even if your link really lead to an accusation of a strike on hospital (which it does not), would it have been credible? How about a more reliable source? Oh, sorry, you can't use that, because that page begins with Israel's explanation: "The Israeli military said it had targeted a cache of anti-tank missiles in the hospital's "immediate vicinity".

And we know very well, from sources both impartial and even those biased towards the Arabs, that Hamas does use such civilian buildings for weapons-caches.

Even if there was a secret islamophobic agenda,

What Secret?
UK Islamist Leader: Islam Will Dominate America
Muslim daubs war memorial with 'Islam will dominate the world' - but walks free after CPS says he was NOT racially motivated
Friday Prayers in Brazil: Islam Will Dominate the World
I want to see flag of Allah flying over Downing St

"We can build systems that react more quickly and consistently than any human. Every year's technological advances expand the domains in which we can do this. If we can use such systems to prevent unnecessary death and suffering, LET'S GET ON WITH IT."

Show me the data.

There is absolutely no way in this universe, that this will not be abused.

There's too much hand-wringing possible with this technology. Couple this with the recent "Remote Stop Device" that the EU is mulling over, and you've essentially got real-time tracking of every single car in the participating countries, mapping and plotting movements and vehicles, and auto-citations being sent out to offenders.

Do something you're not supposed to do, or out past curfew? Your vehicle is remotely stopped. "Please stay where you are, while we send an officer to violate your rights further, with an illegal stop, search and invasive roadside interrogation."

No, there's no way this is happening in a benign, olive-branch fashion. I'm not that naive. There's far too much evidence backing me up here, that similar technologies proposed as saving humanity weren't immediately abused when they hit the market/street/public.

More people have been persecuted, hounded, ruined, tortured, burned, murdered, and just exterminated en-masse because of a book called the Bible than any other document in human history including Mein Kampf and Das Capital put together.

Just sayin' .

As long as your meaning is, "They were persecuted for believing in Judaism or Christianity," or for owning a Torah or Bible, very possibly.

Beginnings of Christian Martyrdom

In their very deaths they were made the subjects of sport: for they were covered with the hides of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and when the day waned, burned to serve for the evening lights. Nero offered his own garden players for the spectacle, and exhibited a Circensian game, indiscriminately mingling with the common people in the dress of a charioteer, or else standing in his chariot. For this cause a feeling of compassion arose towards the sufferers, though guilty and deserving of exemplary capital punishment, because they seemed not to be cut off for the public good, but were victims of the ferocity of one man."

WHEN EUROPEANS WERE SLAVES

A new study suggests that a million or more European Christians were enslaved by Muslims in North Africa between 1530 and 1780 – a far greater number than had ever been estimated before.

League of Militant Atheists
North Korea Ranked No. 1 for Christian Persecution
Persecuted and forgotten: Egypt's Christians
A Global Slaughter of Christians, but America’s Churches Stay Silent
Christian Persecution in China Despite Supposed Religious 'Freedom'
The Case Against the Nazis; How Hitler's Forces Planned To Destroy German Christianity

UNDERSTANDING ANTI-SEMITISM AND ITS HISTORY

The list is obviously much longer.

Since someone is practically certain to object along two lines, lets dispose of them now.

Yes, the Spanish Inquisition was terrible, it was also limited in scope.
The Crusades were a long delayed response to Muslim invasion of the Holy Land.

Oh bullshit. The US is the #1 manufacturing country on the planet, or damn close to it.

http://shopfloor.org/2011/03/u-s-manufacturing-remains-worlds-largest/18756

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/finance/2011/January/US-Manufacturing-Remains-No-1-in-World/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/china-us-manufacturing_n_835470.html

In terms of worker productivity it isn't close. The average US worker produces almost 10 times as much value as the average Chinese worker.

well..
you use a lot of the produce. that production isn't at risk by the chinese. but it's not leaving the USA that much either.
which is also a bit why you shouldn't be that worried about the current situation as it is amassing wealth(physical goods!) into usa. if you default on the debts to china or whoever you end up with the net gain of physical stuff.

but I guess my original point was aimed more at stealing yer seeeecreeeets. look, if I can't buy an american made cisco router anyhow what the fuck does it matter if I buy a huawei? what does it matter for usa if they're stealing manufacturing secrets from ford when ford should really be worried about them stealing manufacturing secrets from VAG, like ford should be doing? if I couldn't buy an american made iPhone even if I tried what does it matter for usual american if I buy a chinese android pos phone? chances are even if I bought a ford it would be made in germany! If I wanted to buy American made high tech I'd have to buy a weber grill or a leatherman. I don't think the room I am in has _anything_ with a made in USA stamp on it(_some_ of the souvenirs might be - but just might).

OK, I thought of one thing that's assembled in USA, the makerbot replicator I got here - but I don't think any of it's parts were made in USA and certainly not the only certified part of it(the psu) - electronics on it certainly aren't american and neither are the stepper motors(arduino based electronics aren't exactly high tech anyways).

Oh bullshit. The US is the #1 manufacturing country on the planet, or damn close to it.

http://shopfloor.org/2011/03/u-s-manufacturing-remains-worlds-largest/18756

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/finance/2011/January/US-Manufacturing-Remains-No-1-in-World/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/china-us-manufacturing_n_835470.html

In terms of worker productivity it isn't close. The average US worker produces almost 10 times as much value as the average Chinese worker.

Today's US high school students are fed politically correct subjects like Islam (which is *very* anti-scientific thanks to the theories of Al Ghazali). Citations:
http://news.yahoo.com/texas-public-school-students-don-burqas-learn-muslim-063126528.html
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/460652.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cvMIBWoR18

Anyone who knows anything about abrogation knows that Islam is an evil ideology, racist and certainly not a religion of peace. However, if we overlook that fact for a moment what is very significant is the fact that all other religions are pretty much banned from most mainstream schools (certainly Christianity and Judaism are). So you ought to ask yourself, why is Islam being pushed in US schools? Besides the obvious answer, because Islamists (eg. the Muslim Brotherhood) want this, how come the Department of Education allows this? The short answer is that the political Left have an alignment of ideology with Islam - so are indoctrination the youth of America with collectivist nonsense. What they don't understand is that they are sowing the seeds of a generation of jihadis because no one is pointing out the true facts about Islam - it is a curse in every country it touches.

Before the haters start please consider these things: I understand Islam *very* well, and *hate* it as it is against every liberty that free men (and women!) cherish; I am an atheist, no point citing Christian bias (Christianity also bunk just like Islam; however unlike Islam today Christianity way less evil); I have no problem with Muslims themselves, who are generally good people despite the brainwashing they've had in the anti-scientific nonsense of Islam; I'm not from the US, so I don't vote, or back Republicans or Democrats (although the Democrats are far more anti-Constitutional than most US people seem to be aware of).

The US is making colossal strategic mistakes. Warping schooling for politically correct subjects instead of emphasizing maths, tech and hard science is not going to result in US global leadership in the coming decades. US citizens can fix it though - vote out the bastards who are warping your schools. Demand that schools teach and promote Enlightenment values instead of barbaric Sharia. Demand that schools teach more math and science.

The problem is that the average man on the street thinks the crime of "money laundering" means "hiding the proceeds of crime". That's the definition you'll find in the dictionary, on Wikipedia etc. If you actually read the regulations however, by far the majority of offences labelled as money laundering boil down to not filing the right paperwork or myriad other things. For example, it's quite routine for farmers to be accused of money laundering for depositing their money in chunks of less than $10k, typically to avoid filling out byzatine forms. When this happens, the US government just seizes (aka steals) the money. There is usually no court case.

Over time, the more I learn about AML laws the more I dislike them. There's no rational cost benefit analysis of any of this stuff. The $10k limit was set in the 70's and never adjusted for inflation. The regulations and thresholds are made more and more extreme every year, yet evidence it actually succeeds in stopping drug dealing or terrorism is - as far as I can tell - minimal to non-existent. The costs, meanwhile, are staggeringly huge. The sheer amount of paperwork it generates alone is eye watering.

There exist sensors that can be placed into the helment and detect hits that are potentially damaging. The cost is actually nominal. The NFL should make these mandatory.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscience/2011/January/Helmet-Device-Could-Help-in-Concussion-Detection/

When South Africa did this (to black people, rather than women), under Apartheid, the civilised world rightly condemned it, and imposed trade sanctions. Where are the trade embargoes on Saudi Arabia? They're in contravention of the UN declaration of Human Rights.

Because a lot of people who will condemn westerners for almost anything (you haven't got a black disabled transexual speaking at your Ruby conference, you must be a fascist), they put complete asshole behaviour of Muslims down to "religious freedom" or "ethnic diversity". Sure tag the women, abduct Hindu girls, murder those priests, its just the expression of your beliefs.

Your generalization is far more false.

There are no such things as degrees of falsehood - a statement is either true, or it isn't. As I doubt anyone is ignorant enough to truly lack the ability to grasp such a base concept, I have to assume you're being hyperbolic for hyperbole's sake. Please don't muddy the waters unnecessarily.

Most Christians don't ever protest a dang thing.

"Christians" protest everything from other people having abortions to honoring soldiers who die in combat. Your statement is complete and utter bullshit, smacking strongly of bearing false witness, and I have a powerful suspicion you already know that.

In Israel? Zero. And they do not have the TSA, and find them quite laughable. http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2010/November/Israeli-Security-Expert-TSA-Procedures-Hysterical/

Here's the saddest part of that article: "Opponents of profiling say such methods could lead to religious or ethnic discrimination."

We, as Americans who love our rights and freedoms, will just not tolerate profiling or discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, etc. And rightly so. But giving up other rights is just fine and dandy.

Absolutely depressing.

In Israel? Zero. And they do not have the TSA, and find them quite laughable. http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2010/November/Israeli-Security-Expert-TSA-Procedures-Hysterical/

I understand that the most frequent rebuttal to the "look how Israel does it" argument is that their solution couldn't scale up to the magnitude of the USA air travel infrastructure. This seems like a plausible counter-argument, though I don't know much about such things. (for the record, TSA & Patriot Act suck)

In Israel? Zero. And they do not have the TSA, and find them quite laughable. http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/insideisrael/2010/November/Israeli-Security-Expert-TSA-Procedures-Hysterical/

Richard Dawkins should be jealous of Robertson, who has converted far more Christians to athiesm than Dawkins ever dreamed of. But what, exactly, does Pat Robertson have to do with researchers working out the process by which evolution added a component to a cellular machine?

Pat Robertson's involvement with protein goes back a long time: http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/shake.aspx

compare that with our own issues with religious extremism during The Crusades

Anyone who trots out the Crusades without considering the Muslim purge of nearly the entire Christian population throughout North Africa and around the Mediterranean before the Crusades is a patsy for the Muslim propaganda machine...

Mudslums are a dangerous threat to our society. Just look at how they're taking over Paris. Burn a Koran on 9/11!

--
Palin 2012!

Don't be so sure it haven't happend already, since stuff like this can happen. And that was just a lazy 10 sec search on Google.

There's probably no hell, now stop worrying about it. Didn't Christians debate this recently too?

Are you kidding? From the Christian Broadcasting Network:

Palin Pick Causes 'Elation' Among Evangelical Leaders

Palin's trying to run away from Stevens as fast as she can. She took money from the same convicted VECO guy that he did -- just not as much.

Meanwhile, over in this camp we have Ayers, nutjob preachers of their own, embezzlers and so much more in common! Why it's a veritable Black's Law on criminality!!

Are you kidding? From the Christian Broadcasting Network:

Palin Pick Causes 'Elation' Among Evangelical Leaders

Palin's trying to run away from Stevens as fast as she can. She took money from the same convicted VECO guy that he did -- just not as much.

he reality is that the ACLU doesn't come down on the right side all the time. A side effect of erring on the side of limiting discrimination and siding with the minority is that you sometimes end up being unpopular and sometimes end up being straight up wrong. The more important question is, are we talking about an organization that's more of a liability than a force for good? As I see it, on the good side you have times when the ACLU protects somebody who is being abused by the government, stands up for free speech, and gets due process for somebody who might otherwise been denied it. On the other hand, people are occasionally offended because they have to take down a religious trinket they've put up on the public dime. Frankly, while I'm usually annoyed and mildly offended at the use of my money being spent to rub my nose in other peoples' religion, I'm easygoing enough that I think a lawsuit is a bit over the top. On the other hand, if the symbolism of a particular group's idol being displayed by the government should be no big deal, why do they wet themselves with rage when they're asked to take it down?

I will agree that the ACLU is not an evil organization, but way too often, they stick their nose where it doesn't belong. Even more often, they gladly offend the majority in order to keep the minority from getting offended.

Here is an example. The ACLU fought to allow Wiccan symbols allowed on soldier's graves. That's a good thing. I don't care if a soldier wants a spaghetti monster on his grave! Whatever they want, that is what they shall have! However, the ACLU fought to have a war memorial covered with a tarp because it was in the shape of a cross. Was anyone really offended by this cross on a hill in the middle of the Mojave desert? Not that I can find. But, because it was in the shape of a cross, and it was on public land, the ACLU demanded that it be covered. Why? Who was offended? Did anyone care?

The ACLU has not given up its fight to also have the cross removed at the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego, California. The organization claims the display of the cross on federally-owned land violates the constitution.

Of course, the ACLU did the same thing in San Diego

How about a Katrina memorial along side the Mississippi River on private land and paid for by private funds?

The American Civil Liberties Union is objecting to plans for a memorial to the 129 residents of Louisiana's St. Bernard Parish who died in Hurricane Katrina, because it will include a cross bearing a likeness of the face of Jesus.

In a letter to parish officials, Louisiana ACLU Executive Director Joe Cook said the plan violates separation of church and state because the memorial would be alongside a public waterway.

But the parish president says he sees nothing wrong with the memorial, which will be erected on private land near the Mississippi River's Gulf outlet and is being financed with donations.

What if I want to display a manger scene in my front yard that faces a public roadway? (whose front yard doesn't face a public roadway?) How about if I want to build a church next to a federal highway? What if I want to use a federal highway to get to church on Sunday morning? Isn't that using federal funds to support a religion?

Same story, another link.
This is the kind of shit I'm talking about. The ACLU is sticking their noses where it does not belong. No one in this Parish complained. Hell! No one complained at all with the exception of the ACLU.

Then there is the case where the ACLU

It wasn't that long ago when any post on Slashdot indicating any kind of anti-Bush sentiment would bring out all the rednecks like fleas on a dog's back.

Yes, and after a well orchestrated gang rape with the moderations system, all those people dispelling an anti-anti-Bush post have been successfully karma'd out or just move on to sites that weren't taken over by the left. This is a problem with the politics section being left in rather then taken out after the election like the plan original was stated. Just look at what happens to this post and you will see. Anything that questions global warming or the left's political causes get modded down.

Any question that anyone of Middle Eastern appearance was not inherently evil had them all frothing at the mouth, spitting invective at these left-wing pinko commies.

And yes, the old frayed ability to lump everyone into one group based on a common denominator. The thing is, I remember only certain middle eastern countries being inherently evil. But I guess after years of exposure to America being the root of all evil, these middle eastern contries don't seem as bad. I guess instead of a common denominator, we are focusing on the least common denominator.

Now the atrocities are mounting up in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan, just a few people are starting to think about what is happening,

Loud music and flushing the bible down the toilet is atrocities? After all, this is what the torture amounts to according to amnesty international. There were a few reports about physical abuse but there is never any scares and such to validate them. I'm not saying that means it didn't happen, but I would attempt to make my captors look in the worst light possible if I had the chance. Maybe atrocities just doesn't mean what it did 10 years ago. Maybe this is the one area were the dictionary failed to preserve the meaning of the words in it in favor of political posturing.

but few will stop to wonder about how they were played like an accordion before.

Maybe his is because few have changed their minds in places were they think they can speak freely. Maybe This is because in order to be a converted thinker on the issues mentioned for the reasons mentioned, you are bing played by the other side too. I would suck to think about how you were a tool from one idea just to realize that you are now a tool for another. And this can be validated with the politics in the US to the extreme. All the leadership from the major opposing parties do is complain that something isn't going right. They don't ever offer alternative solutions or plans that would work better. Kerry ran for office in 2004 claiming he had a plan for Iraq that would work better but because he wasn't elected as president, the country of America doesn't get to know what this better thing was. We have democrat walking around claiming the conversation on Iraq has to change but then not offering and conversation to the One guy who could change anything about it. Instead they are demanding troops quite fighting, making references to losing like in vietnam and then trying to play games with the funding of the troops and the levels of support they have to press the issues just like in vietnam were congress forced us into a loss.

But being a tool or being played like an accordion isn't anything new. It is something that has been around for a while. Look at senator Reid's response to the recent partial birth abortion case brought before the supreme court. He voted for the Ban in the first place and then claimed the court was stacked incorrectly when it went before them. And like the Wars we are in the middle of, the side opposing it the most today was supporting it back then. But t

I'm not sure, the text indicates that you have to be paid. And if I could read legal I would be more confident, but it looks like you might have to be paid to do exactly what you are doing (i.e. if someone posted after being paid to post by a politician).

The article is rather misleading. The section in question applies to astroturf operations, not bloggers:

Lobbying activities include paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying, but do not include grassroots lobbying.

(17) GRASSROOTS LOBBYING- The term `grassroots lobbying' means the voluntary efforts of members of the general public to communicate their own views on an issue to Federal officials or to encourage other members of the general public to do the same.

(18) PAID EFFORTS TO STIMULATE GRASSROOTS LOBBYING-

(A) IN GENERAL- The term `paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying' means any paid attempt in support of lobbying contacts on behalf of a client to influence the general public or segments thereof to contact one or more covered legislative or executive branch officials (or Congress as a whole) to urge such officials (or Congress) to take specific action with respect to a matter described in section 3(8)(A), except that such term does not include any communications by an entity directed to its members, employees, officers, or shareholders.

(B) PAID ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE THE GENERAL PUBLIC OR SEGMENTS THEREOF- The term `paid attempt to influence the general public or segments thereof' does not include an attempt to influence directed at less than 500 members of the general public.

...so it explicitly does not apply to what we normally think of as bloggers.

--MarkusQ

Huh. I thought it was only the Republicans who were after our 1st Amendment rights. But here are the Democrats assaulting our freedoms again by trying to control who says what.

<sarcasm>Oh, never mind, they just want to make sure we have "our papers in order" before we can criticize them.</sarcasm> And we thought that they would be for our rights. But it looks like they are just interested in using the power to stay in power.

It's time to lose the naivte and realize that politicians (whether Republicans or Democrats) are only interested in one thing--getting re-elected.

Real Science, American Style

These articles are particularly interesting:
Museum Gives Different View on Creation
Global Warming: Serious Threat or Alarmism?

A link for the contextually challenged.

Real Science, American Style

These articles are particularly interesting:
Museum Gives Different View on Creation
Global Warming: Serious Threat or Alarmism?

A link for the contextually challenged.

Real Science, American Style

These articles are particularly interesting:
Museum Gives Different View on Creation
Global Warming: Serious Threat or Alarmism?

A link for the contextually challenged.

Calling 911 when someone is having a heart attack - commendable.
Calling 911 when someone just stole your car - questionable, but I can understand it I guess since you want to get in touch ASAP since time is of the essence, and you may not know the local police number.

Calling 911 because someone is annoying you by using your WAP???? How in any way is this an emergency? Why couldn't the store take 30 seconds to look up the local number for the police?

911 is for emergencies...

Oh? http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/usnews/060410a.aspx

I regularly call 911 to make sure it works, especially when I get a new phone/phone service. Don't you take your car for a test drive before buying it? Don't you double check your knots when rappelling off the edge of a mountain?

Blind trust of a government service is ignorant.

He was gonna bring it down with a blowtorch. Adminstration officials act like this really had a chance, but really...

Nevertheless, how would you like to be the agent that captured a terrorist who was released because the evidence against him was illegally obtained?

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/051229d.asp

"Their fatalistic disposition"


Sure sure. We're fatalistic. Not at all like the nice americans here, and here, and here.


"Even my limited experience with doing business within the Indian infrastuture leaves much to be desired in regard to honesty and integrity"


and even the limited experience of this humble Indian living in America for three years, paying off redneck flatfoots for speeding tickets for going 15 mph in a 20 mph zone, paying off car-towing scams, insurance scams, internet scams and every other kind of scam from every major government or large scale corporate agency imaginable leaves much to be desired in regards to honesty, integrity and just plain sanity.

I guess you also subscribe to the Operation Prayer Shield. Hopefully you'll be dead soon.

I guess Operation Prayer Shield is in full effect on slashdot. Brilliant, enjoy dying over oil.

Personal opinions are bad ? I guess the moderators must be from texas ot another lame bible thumping state. Can't the Operation Prayer Shield save the sailors ?

Looks like Pat Robertson does have God's ear.

Which Christians believe that you have to obey all the forms in the OT to get to heaven? You seem to be implying that "fundies" believe this. Name such a group that has more than.. I dunno.. 1000 members.

http://www.chick.com
http://www.falwell.com/
http://www.cbn.com/