I'd really appreciate that. One thing I seem to hear a lot is the small businesses tend to be underrepresented in employment estimates. It's getting ridiculous when one party says the economy's good, and their Kool-Aid drinkers believe it fully, and the other party says the economy's bad and _their_ Kool-Aid drinkers believe THAT fully.
How is this flamebait?! He's responding to flamebait with objective facts.
Of course, if the French have to legislate to preserve their culture (i.e., all the nonsense about French-only) then they are either fighting a losing battle or will start to isolate themselves from the rest of the world.
Can you show statistics to back this up? I realize the 5.4% percent figure is misleading or contrived or something, and there are many other statistics you need to consider, but I was perusing the Labor Department statistics recently and it didn't make much sense to me, but I got the impression things were pretty good.
I'm not so prejudiced to consider that blacks have their own "interests"... unless you are referring to sickle-cell anemia. Racism? I think the Democrats have that covered with their quotas, handouts and low-expectations. If I were black, I'd want the Democrats to stop treating me like an inferior person.
Now if you are referring to poor people (who are disproportionately blacK), than I might understand what you're talking about. A lot of poor people know they can sucker money out of the Democrats rather than try to improve themselves with better educations. The rest may truly need it, but still lack better schools, because vouchers discriminate against Congressmen who don't want the unwashed masses sharing a classroom with Buffy and Jean-Paul Jr., and throwing money at the problem is always better than stopping all the education fads, stopping teaching elementary kids how to use condoms, reinstating dodge ball and other forms of competition and teaching the kids to write, write and do math. But that makes too much sense.
Where I live near DC we have superb public schools with experienced, professional teachers, an excellent special ed system, which I have had experience with, and nice modern buildings. We spend significantly less per pupil than DC, where the schools often open late in September because the crumbling buildings have to be brought up to code and the quality of education is abysmal. It were all about money, DC would have some of the best schools in the US, rather than being practically a third-world country, but, I guess the Democrats in the Disrict serve the "black interests."
What the rest of the world thinks does not matter.
Well, when it comes to the election, it doesn't.
We're the ones voting. If you want to base your decision on the what the rest of the world thinks, that's fine. But it's only American citizens (give or take a few million illegals, dead people and Mary Poppins) who are voting on Tuesday.
Let's see, are you talking about Ashcroft's figurative stormtroopers or Janet Reno's literal stormtroopers, or has a little matter in Waco, Texas slipped your memory? Elian Gonzales and his family being raided by armed federal agents ring a bell? Her refusal to investigate the President despite calls for it by the FBI?
I saw Elders on TV once and all she could do was repeat canned responses whether they were relevant to the question or not. She didn't look intelligent or competent in the least. And no one intelligent would make the statements she made and _not_ expect to get fired. Even with the Philanderer-in-Chief in office.
And if you want to talk about felons, a large number of Clinton's cabinet and adivsors were under investigation, indicted, and in several cases convicted, while he was in office. Mysterious deaths, disappearing law records, vindictive firings of innocent people... it was a circus. Or don't you recall? Clinton's Administration had more scandals than Reagan and Nixon combined. That's a card you probably shouldn't play...
Don't forget the hapless Warren Christopher, who went around the world for 4 years with a "Kick Me" sign on his back. Or the original Defense Secretary (don't recall his name) who let our soldiers be butchered in the street and dragged through town rather appear aggressive to our enemies. I think the only Cabinet member Clinton did have that wasn't corrupt, incompetent or full of bizarre and dangerous ideas was his Secretary of the Treasury (Rubin, wasn't it?).
Remember when the White House resembled a Frat House rather than a beacon of leadership the Free World? The Lincoln Bedroom was a revolving door Motel 6 for purchasers of influence Say what you want about Bush, but compared to that he looks nothing but tame.
Bush and his administation are far from perfect, but at least they're adults.
Sounds like a big minus for fans of Spock's Beard, Yes, Klaus Schultze, Brian Eno... and the many other artists who have escaped the bounds of single-digit minute compositions.
If I could have mass storage on my PocketPC it would be the best music player out there... because it uses a Windows CE port of WinAmp (still beta unfortunately)... what could be easier to use? For now, I have to settle with a 1GB SD card, but that's not bad... and I can play games or read while I listen.
I say we throw out the bums that turned the 28-year copyright into virtually eternal. Sonny Bono, who did huge harm, is dead already (I'm not gonna say God was punishing him... not gonna say it). I'm betting Orrin Hatch is party to this since he loves the media companies so much. Any others?
Seriously though, this is one of the worst instances of corporations buying themselves influence and power from Congress at the complete expense of the public domain. How does the artist or creator benefit when the copyright lasts 50 or 70 (or 90 or whatever it is) after he dies? That's because it's not about the artist but about the corporation pimp daddy who financed his work in exchange for all rights to it.
Oh well, when the copyright on Steamboat Mickey gets close to expiring again, I'm sure Disney will buy another round of extensions, and the World War I era will continue to be the end public domain in the U.S..
There were pro-troops rallies all over the country last year... not pro-war but rallies to show support for the troops. They were pretty big, but didn't get much media attention because a) No one was angry, and b) No one was killed.
Of course, the real reason you don't see white men in business attire marching down the street protesting is because they have better priorities... like working.
Let all the twenty-somethings with communications degrees or journalism degrees, flannel shirts and bad hair do the protesting, at least it keeps them out of jail and out of the Starbucks.
Why should he meet with a wing of the Democratic party who has treated him with nothing but contempt? When the NAACP gets back to being what it started as, maybe it will be recognized as something other than an attack machine for the Democrats. It ought be called the NAANAACP, if you know what I mean.
Bush has been more than willing to meet with legitimate black groups and in fact has appointed more blacks to high position than Clinton. And unlike Clinton, Bush actually picked qualified individuals who deserved their positions, some of whom happened to be black, as opposed to filling quotas (remember Janet Reno? Joycelyn Elders?).
The National Institutes of Health put the cost of drug-related problems at around $100-$200 billion a year... I don't recall the exact figure but it's a fair multiple of what we spend fighting drugs.
I'm glad your English professor did that. So did mine back in high school, but it's not like that all over. Go to a school and try to find a Christmas party. You can't becuase they are not allowed to refer to Christmas... and I live in an area that is immune to the worst of this nonsense.
>Lots of churches in the area I live post Commandments or specific bible verses on their placards outside, where people driving past can see.
Yes on private property. Try posting that in your cubicle in a government office, or in a school and see how long it lasts. You can no longer make references to God in school commencement speeches in some places, and in others children are admonished for even mentioning religion. This is not imagined... just do a keyword search for ACLU, since they are behind a lot of it. You really need to get out more, or read more or something.
protect people from hurting each other
That isn't morality? You have a funny idea of morality. The paragon of morality in the Western World is the Ten Commandments, from which much our culture and legal is based. The commandments basically amount to "Love God.", and "Don't Hurt Each Other". While we don't legislate the first in this country, which is fair and Constitutional, we certainly legislate the second.
On the other hand, the Federal Government has no Constitutional authority to have anything to do with science and art, and your immature ad hominem comment only cements my perception of the low level of maturity with which you comport yourself.
Well, out of your seven stories only one really concerns me, and despite the hysterical breathless murmerings about another Civil War on the forum there, I don't see this exceptional ugliness. Nasty? Yeah. Anarchy? Far from it.
4 stories were about yard signs, 2 stories were about petty vandalism associated with local races, the only one which would even blip my radar is the attacks against Republican campaign offices, but even the right wing media hasn't given that much attention.
Things are uglier than usual, and I think most of it has been caused by the relentless fear-mongering and hate-inciting on the left for the last 4 years and particularly the last few months. (The right does their share of fear-mongering but the party out of power usually wins the contest and this year they are the champs). It would be ironic to have suffered such a spectacular terrorist attack, have bounced back and then have civil unrest caused an abetted by Americans themselves.
I have seen the Democrats doing everything they can to incite anarchy and unrest... I'm just hoping that no one but a stupid and gullible few will fall for it.
I heard a quote the other day attributed to Richard Nixon, who very narrowly lost the election in 1960 by what is commonly attributed to voter fraud in Chicago and other places. Nixon said he wouldn't contest it because it would cause to much damage and undermine our faith in our democracy and election process. Today, the Democrats are doing exactly that before the election even occurs.
However, eventually people are going to realize they're mad as hell but don't really have a reason for it. The economy really is doing well, and there are no other domestic problems besides potential terrorism that we haven't been dealing with for decades.
I just hope the voice of reason and spirit of progressiveness of the American left isn't as dead as Dr. King, President Kennedy or his brother (the dead one, not the one who just looks it).
So, my feelings are mixed on this issue. The anger is there, and is largely misdirected or directed at imaginary things, but that doesn't make it any less real.
Funny enough, if Kerry does win he won't be any more of a uniter than he claims Bush has been. His and Edwards' attacks have been so over-the-top, to the point of getting personal (and not leashing his or his running mates' crass, loudmouth wives) that they have ruined any chance of being perceived as moderate or likeable (which they aren't anyway). Kerry makes me miss Bill Clinton. Now that's scary!
The recounts were done in accordance with State Law. A really bad state law that screwed Gore out of the election.
The Florida Supreme Court figured since the law was poorly made it should be changed in mid-stream which flies in the face of any sense of fairness.
The U.S. Supreme Court settled the matter, although the fact that it wasn't unanimous iis troubling to me. Cleary Rule of Law only counts sometimes.
All we can hope is that Florida got their act together, especially the county election officials (who are largely Democrat), who helped set up the screwed up system that caused 2000 in the first place. That the Secretary of State rubber stamped these butterfly ballots and other nonsense was irresponsible, but there is enough blame to go around.
Well, the incumbent is the incumbent, but the Democrats were clearly trying to find someone who could "beat Bush", not someone who would actually be a good candidate. What they ended up with is someone who almost nobody likes and whose standing in the polls is 80% from people who are opposed to the incumbent. The DNC just panicked when Dean started looking (more) like a fruitcake.
There are better candidates out there, and I hope see and vote for one of them someday soon.
far more likely the Bush admin will do *something* to attempt to maintain power.
I don't believe that any more than I did when they were saying it about Clinton. That would destroy the country.
It's bad enough the Democrats are doing everything they can to undermine our confidence in our election process, guaranteeing four more years of the stupid and loud complaining Bush isn't legitimate, should he win.
I don't see how anything you seem to be suggesting would do anything other than make 1968 look like a picnic.
Sounds like my old sig, "Re-elect George W Bush because nothing is as amusing as angry liberals."
And it's true, for mouth-foaming incoherent rage, just wait till Bush wins. If Kerry wins, Bush supporters will be disappointed and concerned, but most of them won't be complaining about impeachment or disenfranchisement or how the election was rigged, blah, blah, blah. In fact, I'll be somewhat optimistic because Jimmy Carter made the country ready for Ronald Reagan. Kerry's a lot like Carter without the honesty, or southern charm, or pulse..., but I suspect his administration will be about as successful.
The only city where people stop for the green and go through the red.
And the traffic cameras get you a ticket on the green.
Washington drivers are dense, but in places liek Boston, it's cutthroat, and you know what, I could deal with that because it's more predictable. Nothing is worse than someone coming to a complete stop on an entrance ramp to the Beltway.
As an unrepentant gadget freak, I don't find most of the devices appealing. It's just more grossly overpriced crap to sell you. Give me a decent stereo and my cellphone headset and I'm fine. I can see the benefits of the navigation systems, but I can function just fine without one.
Or posting the Ten Commandments in a public place, which is one of the most important historical bases of Western law.
What separates Republicans from other people is that we aren't willing to support the additional burden on our health care system, police and other services to support your self-destructive drug habits, and we object to your objectification of women because it only teaches you and desensitizes you to objectify them in real life, which leads to further crimes. I know you won't agree with this characterization, but many people do. It's no small coincidence that there is a high correlation between sex crimes and pornography.
Republicans also realize that the establishment clause means just that, and recognizing the strong Christian heritage of our country does not force anyone to practice a particular religion. We realize the hypocracy of considering pornography and drugs harmless but religious belief harmful.
Furthermore, the term "legislate morality" is a silly term used by people who don't know what they are talking about. All legislation is about morality... Do you not follow a moral code that condemns murder, stealing or lying?
Slashdot Mirror
I'd really appreciate that. One thing I seem to hear a lot is the small businesses tend to be underrepresented in employment estimates. It's getting ridiculous when one party says the economy's good, and their Kool-Aid drinkers believe it fully, and the other party says the economy's bad and _their_ Kool-Aid drinkers believe THAT fully.
I meant "French language only", of course.
How is this flamebait?! He's responding to flamebait with objective facts.
Of course, if the French have to legislate to preserve their culture (i.e., all the nonsense about French-only) then they are either fighting a losing battle or will start to isolate themselves from the rest of the world.
Now, you can mod me down for being OT.
Yeah, but if he were the New York Times, tomorrow's headline would be "Bush's Campaign Website contains 150 times as many errors as Kerry's"
CBS would have scooped the story, but they were following up on some kind of banking deal from Nigeria.
I estimate
Can you show statistics to back this up? I realize the 5.4% percent figure is misleading or contrived or something, and there are many other statistics you need to consider, but I was perusing the Labor Department statistics recently and it didn't make much sense to me, but I got the impression things were pretty good.
I'm not so prejudiced to consider that blacks have their own "interests"... unless you are referring to sickle-cell anemia. Racism? I think the Democrats have that covered with their quotas, handouts and low-expectations. If I were black, I'd want the Democrats to stop treating me like an inferior person.
Now if you are referring to poor people (who are disproportionately blacK), than I might understand what you're talking about. A lot of poor people know they can sucker money out of the Democrats rather than try to improve themselves with better educations. The rest may truly need it, but still lack better schools, because vouchers discriminate against Congressmen who don't want the unwashed masses sharing a classroom with Buffy and Jean-Paul Jr., and throwing money at the problem is always better than stopping all the education fads, stopping teaching elementary kids how to use condoms, reinstating dodge ball and other forms of competition and teaching the kids to write, write and do math. But that makes too much sense.
Where I live near DC we have superb public schools with experienced, professional teachers, an excellent special ed system, which I have had experience with, and nice modern buildings. We spend significantly less per pupil than DC, where the schools often open late in September because the crumbling buildings have to be brought up to code and the quality of education is abysmal. It were all about money, DC would have some of the best schools in the US, rather than being practically a third-world country, but, I guess the Democrats in the Disrict serve the "black interests."
What the rest of the world thinks does not matter.
Well, when it comes to the election, it doesn't.
We're the ones voting. If you want to base your decision on the what the rest of the world thinks, that's fine. But it's only American citizens (give or take a few million illegals, dead people and Mary Poppins) who are voting on Tuesday.
I rarely use either. Mostly I skip back a track to play something again.
99% percent of the time, I just listen to something through.
I'm just making a joke... I have my music player and am not in the market to play the price of a full computer for another.
Let's see, are you talking about Ashcroft's figurative stormtroopers or Janet Reno's literal stormtroopers, or has a little matter in Waco, Texas slipped your memory? Elian Gonzales and his family being raided by armed federal agents ring a bell? Her refusal to investigate the President despite calls for it by the FBI?
I saw Elders on TV once and all she could do was repeat canned responses whether they were relevant to the question or not. She didn't look intelligent or competent in the least. And no one intelligent would make the statements she made and _not_ expect to get fired. Even with the Philanderer-in-Chief in office.
And if you want to talk about felons, a large number of Clinton's cabinet and adivsors were under investigation, indicted, and in several cases convicted, while he was in office. Mysterious deaths, disappearing law records, vindictive firings of innocent people... it was a circus. Or don't you recall? Clinton's Administration had more scandals than Reagan and Nixon combined. That's a card you probably shouldn't play...
Don't forget the hapless Warren Christopher, who went around the world for 4 years with a "Kick Me" sign on his back. Or the original Defense Secretary (don't recall his name) who let our soldiers be butchered in the street and dragged through town rather appear aggressive to our enemies. I think the only Cabinet member Clinton did have that wasn't corrupt, incompetent or full of bizarre and dangerous ideas was his Secretary of the Treasury (Rubin, wasn't it?).
Remember when the White House resembled a Frat House rather than a beacon of leadership the Free World? The Lincoln Bedroom was a revolving door Motel 6 for purchasers of influence Say what you want about Bush, but compared to that he looks nothing but tame.
Bush and his administation are far from perfect, but at least they're adults.
Sounds like a big minus for fans of Spock's Beard, Yes, Klaus Schultze, Brian Eno... and the many other artists who have escaped the bounds of single-digit minute compositions.
If I could have mass storage on my PocketPC it would be the best music player out there... because it uses a Windows CE port of WinAmp (still beta unfortunately)... what could be easier to use? For now, I have to settle with a 1GB SD card, but that's not bad... and I can play games or read while I listen.
I say we throw out the bums that turned the 28-year copyright into virtually eternal. Sonny Bono, who did huge harm, is dead already (I'm not gonna say God was punishing him... not gonna say it). I'm betting Orrin Hatch is party to this since he loves the media companies so much. Any others?
Seriously though, this is one of the worst instances of corporations buying themselves influence and power from Congress at the complete expense of the public domain. How does the artist or creator benefit when the copyright lasts 50 or 70 (or 90 or whatever it is) after he dies? That's because it's not about the artist but about the corporation pimp daddy who financed his work in exchange for all rights to it.
Oh well, when the copyright on Steamboat Mickey gets close to expiring again, I'm sure Disney will buy another round of extensions, and the World War I era will continue to be the end public domain in the U.S..
There were pro-troops rallies all over the country last year... not pro-war but rallies to show support for the troops. They were pretty big, but didn't get much media attention because a) No one was angry, and b) No one was killed.
Of course, the real reason you don't see white men in business attire marching down the street protesting is because they have better priorities... like working.
Let all the twenty-somethings with communications degrees or journalism degrees, flannel shirts and bad hair do the protesting, at least it keeps them out of jail and out of the Starbucks.
he didn't even meet with the NAACP!
Why should he meet with a wing of the Democratic party who has treated him with nothing but contempt? When the NAACP gets back to being what it started as, maybe it will be recognized as something other than an attack machine for the Democrats. It ought be called the NAANAACP, if you know what I mean.
Bush has been more than willing to meet with legitimate black groups and in fact has appointed more blacks to high position than Clinton. And unlike Clinton, Bush actually picked qualified individuals who deserved their positions, some of whom happened to be black, as opposed to filling quotas (remember Janet Reno? Joycelyn Elders?).
He's Al Gore, you insensitive clod.
The National Institutes of Health put the cost of drug-related problems at around $100-$200 billion a year... I don't recall the exact figure but it's a fair multiple of what we spend fighting drugs.
I'm glad your English professor did that. So did mine back in high school, but it's not like that all over. Go to a school and try to find a Christmas party. You can't becuase they are not allowed to refer to Christmas... and I live in an area that is immune to the worst of this nonsense.
>Lots of churches in the area I live post Commandments or specific bible verses on their placards outside, where people driving past can see.
Yes on private property. Try posting that in your cubicle in a government office, or in a school and see how long it lasts. You can no longer make references to God in school commencement speeches in some places, and in others children are admonished for even mentioning religion. This is not imagined... just do a keyword search for ACLU, since they are behind a lot of it. You really need to get out more, or read more or something.
protect people from hurting each other
That isn't morality? You have a funny idea of morality.
The paragon of morality in the Western World is the Ten Commandments, from which much our culture and legal is based. The commandments basically amount to "Love God.", and "Don't Hurt Each Other". While we don't legislate the first in this country, which is fair and Constitutional, we certainly legislate the second.
On the other hand, the Federal Government has no Constitutional authority to have anything to do with science and art, and your immature ad hominem comment only cements my perception of the low level of maturity with which you comport yourself.
Well, out of your seven stories only one really concerns me, and despite the hysterical breathless murmerings about another Civil War on the forum there, I don't see this exceptional ugliness. Nasty? Yeah. Anarchy? Far from it.
4 stories were about yard signs, 2 stories were about petty vandalism associated with local races, the only one which would even blip my radar is the attacks against Republican campaign offices, but even the right wing media hasn't given that much attention.
Things are uglier than usual, and I think most of it has been caused by the relentless fear-mongering and hate-inciting on the left for the last 4 years and particularly the last few months. (The right does their share of fear-mongering but the party out of power usually wins the contest and this year they are the champs). It would be ironic to have suffered such a spectacular terrorist attack, have bounced back and then have civil unrest caused an abetted by Americans themselves.
I have seen the Democrats doing everything they can to incite anarchy and unrest... I'm just hoping that no one but a stupid and gullible few will fall for it.
I heard a quote the other day attributed to Richard Nixon, who very narrowly lost the election in 1960 by what is commonly attributed to voter fraud in Chicago and other places. Nixon said he wouldn't contest it because it would cause to much damage and undermine our faith in our democracy and election process. Today, the Democrats are doing exactly that before the election even occurs.
However, eventually people are going to realize they're mad as hell but don't really have a reason for it. The economy really is doing well, and there are no other domestic problems besides potential terrorism that we haven't been dealing with for decades.
I just hope the voice of reason and spirit of progressiveness of the American left isn't as dead as Dr. King, President Kennedy or his brother (the dead one, not the one who just looks it).
So, my feelings are mixed on this issue. The anger is there, and is largely misdirected or directed at imaginary things, but that doesn't make it any less real.
Funny enough, if Kerry does win he won't be any more of a uniter than he claims Bush has been. His and Edwards' attacks have been so over-the-top, to the point of getting personal (and not leashing his or his running mates' crass, loudmouth wives) that they have ruined any chance of being perceived as moderate or likeable (which they aren't anyway). Kerry makes me miss Bill Clinton. Now that's scary!
The recounts were done in accordance with State Law. A really bad state law that screwed Gore out of the election.
The Florida Supreme Court figured since the law was poorly made it should be changed in mid-stream which flies in the face of any sense of fairness.
The U.S. Supreme Court settled the matter, although the fact that it wasn't unanimous iis troubling to me. Cleary Rule of Law only counts sometimes.
All we can hope is that Florida got their act together, especially the county election officials (who are largely Democrat), who helped set up the screwed up system that caused 2000 in the first place. That the Secretary of State rubber stamped these butterfly ballots and other nonsense was irresponsible, but there is enough blame to go around.
You're not disillusioned a bit are you?
I'm convinced that something very much like organized crime is behind Bush
Um, the unions are still Democrat.
The division in this country over this election is far more violence prone than any I've ever seen before
I don't see it. I hope you're wrong.
Well, the incumbent is the incumbent, but the Democrats were clearly trying to find someone who could "beat Bush", not someone who would actually be a good candidate. What they ended up with is someone who almost nobody likes and whose standing in the polls is 80% from people who are opposed to the incumbent. The DNC just panicked when Dean started looking (more) like a fruitcake.
There are better candidates out there, and I hope see and vote for one of them someday soon.
far more likely the Bush admin will do *something* to attempt to maintain power.
I don't believe that any more than I did when they were saying it about Clinton. That would destroy the country.
It's bad enough the Democrats are doing everything they can to undermine our confidence in our election process, guaranteeing four more years of the stupid and loud complaining Bush isn't legitimate, should he win.
I don't see how anything you seem to be suggesting would do anything other than make 1968 look like a picnic.
Perhaps, but if Gore had won Florida, it would have been because the rules were changed mid-game. I wouldn't agree with that either.
Sounds like my old sig, "Re-elect George W Bush because nothing is as amusing as angry liberals."
And it's true, for mouth-foaming incoherent rage, just wait till Bush wins. If Kerry wins, Bush supporters will be disappointed and concerned, but most of them won't be complaining about impeachment or disenfranchisement or how the election was rigged, blah, blah, blah. In fact, I'll be somewhat optimistic because Jimmy Carter made the country ready for Ronald Reagan. Kerry's a lot like Carter without the honesty, or southern charm, or pulse..., but I suspect his administration will be about as successful.
The only city where people stop for the green and go through the red.
And the traffic cameras get you a ticket on the green.
Washington drivers are dense, but in places liek Boston, it's cutthroat, and you know what, I could deal with that because it's more predictable. Nothing is worse than someone coming to a complete stop on an entrance ramp to the Beltway.
As an unrepentant gadget freak, I don't find most of the devices appealing. It's just more grossly overpriced crap to sell you. Give me a decent stereo and my cellphone headset and I'm fine. I can see the benefits of the navigation systems, but I can function just fine without one.
But that doesn't mean we try to get it banned.
Try to take one to school.
Or posting the Ten Commandments in a public place, which is one of the most important historical bases of Western law.
What separates Republicans from other people is that we aren't willing to support the additional burden on our health care system, police and other services to support your self-destructive drug habits, and we object to your objectification of women because it only teaches you and desensitizes you to objectify them in real life, which leads to further crimes. I know you won't agree with this characterization, but many people do. It's no small coincidence that there is a high correlation between sex crimes and pornography.
Republicans also realize that the establishment clause means just that, and recognizing the strong Christian heritage of our country does not force anyone to practice a particular religion. We realize the hypocracy of considering pornography and drugs harmless but religious belief harmful.
Furthermore, the term "legislate morality" is a silly term used by people who don't know what they are talking about. All legislation is about morality... Do you not follow a moral code that condemns murder, stealing or lying?
That depends on whether it's a state law or a federal matter.