Glad I don't live in Saudi Arabia...

[RobTheDrummer]

http://network.yardbarker.com/all_sport ... oo/7375804

[f.sciarrillo]

There is a Pastor in Iran that is facing the death penalty because he won't recant his christian faith. Those islamic followers are really tolerant and peaceful, eh?

[RobTheDrummer]

There is a Pastor in Iran that is facing the death penalty because he won't recant his christian faith. Those islamic followers are really tolerant and peaceful, eh?

Be careful Frank, they might call you an intolerant racist!

[f.sciarrillo]

No intolerance there, Rob. Just stating fact.

[shredder138]

CUNT!

[f.sciarrillo]

CUNT!

[songsmith]

Thank God we live here in America, where Muslims have to get Christian approval for the location of their churches, and Texas schoolbooks are rewritten to include the Christian Creation story. Catholics can't get married unless they pay for the classes and agree to raise the kids Catholic, and they have a say in your sex life, too. You can't vaccinate girls for HPV, because they might eventually have sex. Capigning from the pulpit is now part of your Sunday School experience. And we all have to make fundamentalists comfortable with everything we do, because, well... they're better than us, so we just do.
This over-the-top eye-roll is from everyone who is not a straight white Christian middle-aged conservative male.

[Craven Sound]

Thank God we live here in America, where Muslims have to get Christian approval for the location of their churches, and Texas schoolbooks are rewritten to include the Christian Creation story. Catholics can't get married unless they pay for the classes and agree to raise the kids Catholic, and they have a say in your sex life, too. You can't vaccinate girls for HPV, because they might eventually have sex. Capigning from the pulpit is now part of your Sunday School experience. And we all have to make fundamentalists comfortable with everything we do, because, well... they're better than us, so we just do.
This over-the-top eye-roll is from everyone who is not a straight white Christian middle-aged conservative male.

Can I get a roll eyes! I've got the straight, white middle age part, but that's about it!

[songsmith]

Me, too!

[RobTheDrummer]

Ok Johnny, go live in Saudi Arabia then.

[songsmith]

So my choices are submit to fundamentalist authoritarianism here, or get out? I think you just made my point.

[Hawk]

Funny. The right wing can't take it when the left points out conservative flaws and often resort to, "Love it or leave it". Yet they bitch constantly and never consider leaving.

If you read the likes of Joe and Rob we live in a country so oppressed that we no longer enjoy freedom. "Oppression" is often a part of their language. Yet they never realize the oppression relative to their own views.

Seems to me I've ask Rob for a list and never got it. Hell, Joe's pissed off that hard drugs aren't legal.

If you guys know of another country with more freedom, move...

If your answer is that your afraid of losing your freedom, please give a list of the freedoms you are afraid of losing.

[songsmith]

Another problem I have with right-wing ideology is states' autonomy. They say let each state decide this and that... so, if Pennsylvania decided to, for example, publically fund all abortions, they'd move away? NO!!! If PA required all existing firearms to be registered and taxed, they'd move out? Hell, no, they wouldn't! It's all a shell game, and one they obviously haven't given any thought to, because they're not allowed to consider things like that. That whole concept is meant to get the seperate states to compete for the best environment for a particular business. Divide and conquer. Like Delaware does for credit-card companies. That was a big ruse during the Healthcare insurance debate: let consumers cross state lines for the best deals. Sounds great on the surface, but the insurance industry is united by greed, so they'd simply move all operations to the state with the least oversight and taxation, then collude on pricing and service, and we'd all end up with the same BS we have now, except that they'd no longer have to pretend to not be in cahoots. And if we attempt to regulate them in any way, it's "socialism." The states United for a reason. To suggest any other way does not SEEM unpatriotic, it DEFINES unpatriotic.

[lonewolf]

Another problem I have with right-wing ideology is states' autonomy. They say let each state decide this and that... so, if Pennsylvania decided to, for example, publically fund all abortions, they'd move away? NO!!! If PA required all existing firearms to be registered and taxed, they'd move out? Hell, no, they wouldn't! It's all a shell game, and one they obviously haven't given any thought to, because they're not allowed to consider things like that. That whole concept is meant to get the seperate states to compete for the best environment for a particular business. Divide and conquer. Like Delaware does for credit-card companies. That was a big ruse during the Healthcare insurance debate: let consumers cross state lines for the best deals. Sounds great on the surface, but the insurance industry is united by greed, so they'd simply move all operations to the state with the least oversight and taxation, then collude on pricing and service, and we'd all end up with the same BS we have now, except that they'd no longer have to pretend to not be in cahoots. And if we attempt to regulate them in any way, it's "socialism." The states United for a reason. To suggest any other way does not SEEM unpatriotic, it DEFINES unpatriotic.

Health insurance companies cross state lines and should be regulated by the federal government.

Regulated doesn't mean controlled.

[Banned]

. Hell, Joe's pissed off that hard drugs aren't legal.

Bill, that is such an idiotic post. It makes me question whether it is worth my time to ever talk to you. When did I ever post that I am pissed off hard drugs are not legal? When did I ever say that to you? Why are you lying again?

The War on Drugs is a complete failure, at the cost of Trillions of dollars and millions of wasted years in jail for nothing more than the equivalent of buying a case of beer.

Of course you probably like it when the government wastes our tax dollars. I don't. I want drugs decriminalized. The same amount of people would still be using them and it would cripple the drug gang business if it were decriminalized. Oh and save Trillions of our tax dollars and empty a third of our prison cells. That is so bad to you?

[RobTheDrummer]

So my choices are submit to fundamentalist authoritarianism here, or get out? I think you just made my point.

I didn't tell you to get out. I simply implied if you don't like the way America runs, you can leave at any time.

[lonewolf]

Thank God we live here in America, where Muslims have to get Christian approval for the location of their churches, and Texas schoolbooks are rewritten to include the Christian Creation story. Catholics can't get married unless they pay for the classes and agree to raise the kids Catholic, and they have a say in your sex life, too. You can't vaccinate girls for HPV, because they might eventually have sex. Capigning from the pulpit is now part of your Sunday School experience. And we all have to make fundamentalists comfortable with everything we do, because, well... they're better than us, so we just do.
This over-the-top eye-roll is from everyone who is not a straight white Christian middle-aged conservative male.

Except for Muslims getting approval for a location of their church (actually they are called mosques), none of this is the authoritarian government at work. Google "BUILDING PERMIT". I believe you will find this little tidbit in 99% of American municipalities. Its your local government at work, doing its job to make sure that new construction is safe and in the right location (google ZONING).

As for everything else. Why must you be so intolerant of other people's beliefs and the rights of citizens living in another state?

[songsmith]

[Except for Muslims getting approval for a location of their church (actually they are called mosques), none of this is the authoritarian government at work. Google "BUILDING PERMIT". I believe you will find this little tidbit in 99% of American municipalities. Its your local government at work, doing its job to make sure that new construction is safe and in the right location (google ZONING).

As for everything else. Why must you be so intolerant of other people's beliefs and the rights of citizens living in another state?

Yes, Jeff, I'm aware they are called "mosques." It's a bastardized word, originally Arabic for "place of prostration," and moved up through the languages of southern Europe to the English version we use. A little over a year ago, the predominantly-Christian Tea Party, along with other conservative groups, publicly protested not just the Day Center in Lower Manhattan, but new mosque construction all over the country (though mostly in the Racist South). Please put more effort into putting two and two together and surmising what I'm talking about, I hate spelling it out so much, and it leads to accusations of long posts.
In addition, I never intimated that GOVERNMENT was intolerant of Muslims, only pointed out that Evangelical & Fundamentalist Christian Conservatives were. Please do more to get your "bad guys" straight. The "authoritarian government" angle is your construct. If they use building permit processes to halt construction of non-Christian places of worship, that only further illustrates my point.
Now to project intolerance on me, perhaps for my stance against fundamentalism (both Christian and Muslim), I don't think anyone actually buys it, and if they did, I know from whence I speak. I taught Sunday School in the Assembly of God Church at age 16. It's how I was raised, and I'm intimately familiar with how it preys upon people. I'm not intolerant, I'm practical. Google "Jimmy Swaggart." Google "Jim Bakker." Google "Tommy Pitts." Google "Rick Warren." Google "Ted Haggard."
I am open to discuss dogma such as Charismaticism and Evangelicalism, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, etc., but it gets pretty dry for anyone not interested in 2nd Chapter, Book of Acts.
I think this may be a road better left untrodden, but as usual, I'm not afraid to "go there."

[RobTheDrummer]

It's like putting in a gun store right next to Columbine High School.

[lonewolf]

[Except for Muslims getting approval for a location of their church (actually they are called mosques), none of this is the authoritarian government at work. Google "BUILDING PERMIT". I believe you will find this little tidbit in 99% of American municipalities. Its your local government at work, doing its job to make sure that new construction is safe and in the right location (google ZONING).

As for everything else. Why must you be so intolerant of other people's beliefs and the rights of citizens living in another state?

A little over a year ago, the predominantly-Christian Tea Party, along with other conservative groups, publicly protested not just the Day Center in Lower Manhattan, but new mosque construction all over the country (though mostly in the Racist South). Please put more effort into putting two and two together and surmising what I'm talking about, I hate spelling it out so much, and it leads to accusations of long posts.

I know exactly what you are talking about...the trouble is that you don't know what you are talking about.

I get tired of spelling out the difference between free people publicly protesting and an authoritarian government cutting somebody's tongue out for being Christian.

Protests don't mean a thing unless the government carries it out. The last time I looked, the Christian Tea Party wasn't issuing building permits. If the government denies a permit for no good reason, then I too have a problem with that.

Once again, Johnny disagrees with another belief and we must suspend the 1st amendment.

[songsmith]

I forget, am I discussing this with Lonewolf, or UCJoe? I have a pretty good command of what I'm saying, but you're careening off somewhere else. Are you saying that the Tea Party is okay to protest mosques, but the government is cutting Christians' tongues out? Maybe you're saying that building codes should be used to keep mosques from being built? Are you saying that my disagreement constitutes denial of your 1st Amendment rights (despite that the 1st Amendment applies to GOV'T censorship)? From what you've posted, I can't tell whose rights are being denied, who denies them, why building permits are part of Tea Party protests, and why protests don't mean a thing unless the government carries them out.
I originally pointed out that Fundamentalist Christians are quick to point out perceived persecution aimed AT them, but feel entitled to issue their own persecutions of anyone un-Christian. That always brings the expected butt-hurt, and I'm capable of dealing with that... but at this point, I need to drop back 5 yards and punt, because you lost me.

[lonewolf]

I forget, am I discussing this with Lonewolf, or UCJoe? I have a pretty good command of what I'm saying, but you're careening off somewhere else. Are you saying that the Tea Party is okay to protest mosques, but the government is cutting Christians' tongues out? Maybe you're saying that building codes should be used to keep mosques from being built? Are you saying that my disagreement constitutes denial of your 1st Amendment rights (despite that the 1st Amendment applies to GOV'T censorship)? From what you've posted, I can't tell whose rights are being denied, who denies them, why building permits are part of Tea Party protests, and why protests don't mean a thing unless the government carries them out.
I originally pointed out that Fundamentalist Christians are quick to point out perceived persecution aimed AT them, but feel entitled to issue their own persecutions of anyone un-Christian. That always brings the expected butt-hurt, and I'm capable of dealing with that... but at this point, I need to drop back 5 yards and punt, because you lost me.

It sounds to me like you are intolerant of the Tea Party's right to protest, among other groups. At least you bitched about it and i suppose that if there was anything you could do to stop them, you'd do it. Of course, that would be suspending their 1st amendment rights.

Now, read the original post and put on your thinking cap. What authoritarian government might cut your tongue out (amongst other things) for being Christian?

Please keep your thinking cap on whilst you ponder the difference between Tea Party protests and an authoritarian government who might cut your tongue out for being Christian. Specifically, having a Christian tatoo.

[songsmith]

I have no control over what other governments do. I have some control over my own, though. If were were to go back through history, we'd find that Christians burned people for being witches, imprisoned them for scientific research, and slaughtered them for being Muslim, or anything else.
And whatever I did to the Tea Party (usually limited to ridicule and disgust), it wouldn't violate their 1st Amendment rights, because I am not the government.
Thinking cap on, and cocked jauntily to the side.

[bassist_25]

So my choices are submit to fundamentalist authoritarianism here, or get out? I think you just made my point.

I didn't tell you to get out. I simply implied if you don't like the way America runs, you can leave at any time.

...or you know, like take part in the political process since this is supposed to be a democracy 'n all.

[RobTheDrummer]

So my choices are submit to fundamentalist authoritarianism here, or get out? I think you just made my point.

I didn't tell you to get out. I simply implied if you don't like the way America runs, you can leave at any time.

...or you know, like take part in the political process since this is supposed to be a democracy 'n all.

Actually, it's not a democracy, it's a republic. He can call his congressman.