The reason we question everything is because if you do not you will be taken advantage of and in your instance, you have been taken advantage of.

I will question any punishment thats end result is the amputation of ones hands. Theres this thing that we protect..... hmmm.... oh yeah, the constitution where it states that it is unlawful to use cruel and unusual punishment upon even the guilty.

I feel sorry for you Clarius, I feel sorry that your life is so rigid and so based upon blind faith that you cannot see anything else but your own beliefs…

I’ll pray for you, to try to make sure that you become more open-minded and questioning of everything around you. Do it, and you will gain more out of life.

However, why should I think this page would be different .... Please provide the facts before questioning some sort of punishment ....

OUR DAYS ARE LIMITED IF WE DON’T ....
OUR FREEDOM IS ONE STEP AWAY FROM INSTINCTION (R.Regan)

I have a lot to say, I respect your views, but I don’t agree with many of them. Give me a couple paragraphs to let me debunk some of the falsehoods of your economic statements, remind you of the history of the Republican Party, go through your opposition to a health care system that works for all Americans (which incidentally would lower overall health care costs), and then, we can start to get into the natural disaster talk and what God does or does not do to or for us.

Ok, your first point, that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. Your absolutely correct, there is no denying that; however, his party platform in the 1860’s is remarkably similar to that of a current day Democrat. I’m proud of Abraham Lincolns accomplishments, they are truly something we can point to as truly American. The Emancipation Proclamation is by far one of the biggest steps we have taken towards equality in this country. But if you are to call yourself a Republican, and be proud for what the liberal part of your party did during its founding, then you should also be ashamed of the fact that Republicans voted against the Voting Rights Act, voted against desegregation and voted against integrating the Army. I could go on, but I am trying to debunk your points in a succinct fashion. The point is, you can claim to be the party of Lincoln, but in reality your party fundamentally changed its views once the Jim Crow laws in the South came into question.

Who started Abortion? Hmmm. Lets see, the first recorded case of an abortion comes from 1550 BC in Egypt, the procedure and actual case study were found upon scrolls that have now been called “The Egyptian Ebers Papyrus”. Other recorded cases of abortions come from the Chinese, where their earliest recorded abortions took place in 500 BC. But don’t worry, those people are going to hell anyway because they didn’t worship Jesus and God. It doesn’t matter that Christianity hadn’t even been thought of as a religion at that point. But, in the 2nd century AD, the Greek physician, Soranus, recommended abortion in cases of health complications. Thus, I would just like to point out that I do not believe that liberals, in the terms that you believe, started abortions. Granted, the use of surgical removal of the fetus was quite rare, the use of different herbal and pressure techniques were used. But, I do have one question with this subject in mind. I know Sarah Palin believes that an abortion should not take place even in case of rape and incest (both against Christian teachings - rape and incest), but that she would be fine with an abortion to save the mothers life. You stated before that God has plans for all of us, but that an abortion of a fetus is not gods plan, thus gods plan was for the mother to die and for the baby to have a chance at living. So, in your opinion, just by examining your views you have provided me, abortion should be illegal even in cases where the mother will die from child birth. I just don’t agree with that, I don’t really agree with abortions, but Gov. Palin said it best when she told the media and public that she was proud that Bristol decided to make the choice to keep the baby. So was I, I was elated that Palin was proud and that Bristol was going to keep the baby. My only problem with her statement was that Bristol had the choice to decide, if it were up to Gov. Palin, Bristol would have never had the choice to decide to keep the fetus or not. I find it strange that those who say they want less government in their lives seem so intent on putting more government restrictions upon our lives.

Moving on....

Prayer in the classroom. While there are many reasons why we can’t have prayer in our classrooms a couple stand out. The oldest argument is that the constitution states Church and State must be separate. Proponents of school prayer rightly say that prayer was allowed in school during the time of our founding thus negating the point that school prayer should be outlawed in schools. Then again, the first public school in the United States that was tax payer funded, was founded on Jan. 1st 1643 in Dedham Massachusetts, and prayer was allowed to exist within the classroom. But one must look at the time, the most educated at that time were part of the clergical profession and classes were taught within churches. The thing is, Dedham is also known as the town that first tried to separate church from state, they believed that the state should definately not be involved in matters of religious necessity. They were scared of the government, they were scared that the government would impose a religious criteria upon them during publically funded school teachings. Thus, because of the fear of government, prayer was gradually taken out of the public school system, not because people were having their right to pray taken away, they just didn’t the government involved in their ability to prayer. If you want to say that liberals took prayer out of our schools, your wrong, prayer was taken out of all schools that receive tax payer dollars, schools that the government can control and can tell what to teach. But if you were to look at those who first started to take prayer out of our school system, look no further than the Puritans in Massachusetts, a bunch of folk that most would not consider liberals. Here’s my question to you on this subject, do you want the government to be able to control how you pray or when you pray, etc, etc. do you want your children to be told how they can pray, etc. We don’t allow religion into our schools because our children are easily propagandized, and we don’t allow religion into our public schools because we don’t want our government in our religion, its not the other way around. Religion is what gives us a sense of ethics, ethics can never be taken away from you once in government, but religion, once in school the government can start legislating on it. You don’t want the government involved in your faith.

Moving on again…

Paying homage to the creator, I’m going to take that as a reference to not teaching creationism in public schools as well. Besides the bible, show me proof that the world was created in 7 days. The thing is, couldn’t seven days be taken a little less litterally, and more figuratively? If you take the bible too litterally you should be a supporter of stoning women that were found to have committed adultory. Now, sex education, that gets a lot of play nowadays after Obama’s views were distorted and torn apart from the truth, you believe that sex education should come from the family. It should be an issue brought up between Mother and Daughter, Father and Son, well.... thats kinda how most people believe creationism should be taught, within the family or at church. If we decided to teach religion in schools, why would we ever need church? Why can’t we pray, and learn about god, and if Catholic, take Mass in public schools… if that actually happened, whats the point of a church?

Moving on…

I have just one sentence for when I get to the Pearly Gates, “I was a good man, I loved my family and lived the most honest and true life that I could.” If I am damned to hell as you say, so be it, I lived in an ethical, logical way, I lived a life structured on reason and science, if that damns me to eternal hell, I don’t care. I do not want to live in ignorance or fear of reason.

Once again, moving on…

President Bush prays to God for guidance, thats great, but I would rather him listen to his commanders, the American people, or even terrorist chatter. I’d like him to listen to reason while he is the most powerful man on earth. By not listening to what I previously stated he is disregarding his obligations demanded of him through the consitutional duties of the President. The Presidents boss is not God, it is the American people. If he wants his boss to be god, then he can become a preacher back home.

On to Retirement,

Well, before, I was just worried about the lives of Americans, but now that you have let me know that I’m going to hell, I’d really like my retirement to be great, because eternal hell doesn’t sound that great but a beach house in Southern Florida might make up for it.

Your statement that God does allow certain people to be elected to office makes absolutely no sense what so ever. Does that mean that God allowed Hitler to go into office? If thats true, God allowed the Holocaust to take place, that he allowed the subjegation of an entire continent, etc., etc. I really do not think God gets into politics, if he did, he would have given us better candidates than what we have right now.

Now.... finally, tax cuts.

Obama has stated that he will give tax cuts to all of those making under $250,000, John McCain will also give tax cuts to everyone making under $250,000. Barak Obama will raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year, John McCain will lower them. John McCain says he can pay for all his plans by taking out Earmarks from Congress, only problem is earmarks don’t add up to the spending he wants to do. Not only that, but most earmarks go to building something within the district that the Congressman is from, take away 150 Billion Dollars a year from the construction industry and from small towns across America is not only hazardous to a housing market in crisis but it will also force many who work in the construction industry to lose the only jobs they have left, jobs that use money from earmarks. A little bit earlier, when I has talked about retirement and a better life for my children, you responded that I should be looking out for my own eternal life, well quite frankly, my life comes second to my childrens, my country and my planet. I will gladly serve the rest of my eternal life in hell to allow for my children to have a better life than I did, for my country to succeed and for the world to become a safer place. I worry about our economy, I worry about my childrens economy… you say we have 5 generations of welfare in this country, well we have social security, which elevated our impoverished seniors to that of a normal life after work. Figure out something thats better, that improves the lives of seniors and get back to me when you have one. It may not work that well, but its all we have at this point, and I’m not letting the people who helped shape this country to be the parthenon that it is so that we can throw them in the gutter when they get too old. I thought helping others was a true Christian value, but I guess that only applies when it is applied to oneself. Your right, people are thankful everyday that they are healthy and can work, because if you had your way, those without health insurance, when they get sick, and cannot work, not only do they suffer, their children suffer, then they go to the hosipal anyway, something they cannot afford, and then declare bankruptcy, increasing our health care costs and then increasing the credit needed to do almost anything in terms of loans.
While a nationalized health care system is quite a challenge, something that I do not think we can do right now, Obama has something inbetween. If you want to join it, you can, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to join it. He got hammered by not making health care mandatory, he got attacked from his own side, but he stuck with it. Just think, if 47 million Americans actually got health care and didnt stick the bills with those who were lucky enough to have it, how much money do you think we would save? The reason our health care system is failing is because the people that pay for health care not only have to pay for themselves but for everyone that doesnt pay. But if everyone has the opportunity to pay into the system, the people that want to pay into the system, then they wont have to go into bankruptcy, wont raise our minimums, and allow for an overall decrease in health care costs.

By the way, I paid for myself to go through college, majored in History, Anti-Terrorism, and Political Science. I work everyday to protect this country, I work everyday to protect people like me, people like you. Just remember, there is more that unites us than divides us, even though I believe most of your views to be hypocritical.

I’ve read the book, I just don’t see everything in it as litterally as you do. 7 days, stoning cheating spouses, etc.

Let me ask you something?  Who got rid of slavery, hmm, maybe Abraham Lincoln the Republican.  Who started abortion,liberals! Who took prayer out of school, yes liberals again.  Why do liberals have so much pride that they won’t pay homage to their Creator.  The only thing you will be asked when you die is this, “What have you done for my Son in your life?” You have to admit ever since they have taken prayer out of school the world has gone to hell.  People were made to praise God.  Why do we have so many natural disasters now?  I suggest you read the book “23 Minutes in Hell.” I used to be a nonbeliever like you.  I have talked to patients in the hospital who have gone to heaven and who have gone to hell when they cardiac arrested.  The nonbelievers were traumatized and changed their ways.  I know President Bush is not perfect but at least he will get down on his knees and pray to God for guidance.  At least McCain and Palin are God fearing people.  I can’t say that about liberals.  How come you are so worried about your retirement and you don’t care about eternity?????????????????God does allow certain people to be elected and run for office.  He is in control.  If he can make the universe I think he can do that.  I don’t know if you know what Obama is trying to do financially but it is not good for the middle-class, hard working Americans.  If your into freeloading I guess it’s great for you.  How says he is going to provide free healthcare and college tuition.  You got it! He’s going to raise our taxes.  That includes the middle class.  People need to work. We have 5 generations of welfare in this country.  That is sick!  It is good for people to work.  They should be thankful they are healthy enough to work and are able to work.

Anyway, both my husband and myself paid for our education.  We were better students because of it. 

READ THE BOOK!

Nicole

What ever happened to turning the other cheek? I guess its easy to criticize others when you cherry pick your own beliefs

Liberals went against the British Monarchy to give us our independence.

Liberals gave this country and its people the ability to practice their own religion without the imposition of others.

Liberals brought an end to slavery.

Liberals gave the right to vote to women.

On the other hand:

Conservatives/Loyalists tried to keep us under British rule.

Conservatives wanted to have one state religion, and none others, which means I’m guessing your branch of evangelicalism would not exist.

Conservatives sought to tear apart our country in two during the civil war by denying basic human rights to African Americans.

Conservatives said the place of a woman is in the home, to nuture the children and to watch the house, while producing young strong men for the future. It was called Republican Motherhood. And with that argument under their belt, they denied the right to vote to women.

In every major struggle for the civil rights of American citizens, the right to live freely, the right to choose your own way, the right to the pursuit of happiness, the status quo and its Conservative bretheran have been on the wrong side of history.

But then again, if we look at the bible, and take it litterally, we should have stoned Monica Lewinsky… I’m not saying she hasn’t been stoned before (high), but what I don’t think thats what the bible had in mind.

Noah’s sons, specifically Ham, the dark one, were used as a rationalization for slavery during the 1850’s and 1860’s. They believe that because Ham, the dark son, was forced into servitude, that all dark people should be as well. I am ashamed that people with my religion believed the bible that litterally and with an interpretation not reflected by that of gods will.

Gods will is not to force us to do things, God does not want us to be afraid 24/7, God doesn’t see everyone as evil. He made us in his image, the good and the bad. But at this point, there are more important issues to worry about. Will your children live a better life than you did? Will you be able to retire when you want to? Will you be able to find a job? Will you lose your job? Will my children have to be drafted for a war far far away that quite frankly did not concern us to begin with (Iraq --- Afghanistan is justified). And the big question, Are you better off now than you were 4 and 8 years ago? How will you send your children to college with an economy that is not being watched over or regulated? Will college, which has become almost a right for all upper teens, become only a haven for the rich again? Do you want a President that you can have a beer with or do you want a President that knows how to motivate us, bring out the best in us, unite us rather than divide us, a President that can lead us to a better life and a better life for our children? What do you want? You’ll probably say that about Gov. Palin, that she’s a true leader, but in reality, she has been an agressive leader, one that fires those who do not agree with her. Reminds me of someone, someone with only a 29% approval rating right now. Reminds me of someone who said he would change Washington, granted, he did, but for the worse (Bush). My question is, you were so against McCain at the start, then he gives you a trophy VP..... Are you looking for John McCain to die so that someone with your views can come into office?
Someone that can “change” the way we live. Force morals upon the country. Force people into religious ideology? Isn’t that what we stand against in this country? Isn’t that what they do in Iran, force people to believe a religious ideology? Force people to follow their morals? How did that turn out? I thought Americans were taught to be independant and allow others the same opportunity to embrace their own ideology. I have nothing against yours, its just I do not want it imposed upon me. I understand that you feel as though we are imposing godless moral teachings in public schools and upon you, but in fact, we are teaching what we are allowed to teach, science, math, english, philosophy. Considering, for the majority of time, the church believed that earth was the center of the universe and it took them quite a while to believe that gravity existed, then I think I will take my scientific teachings from those who are not afraid to question the established beliefs. I don’t want my children to fall behind in education while the rest of the world flys past us. I want them to have a better life..... actually, I think I’m done for now. I have rambled on and on and on and I have no doubt that I will be criticised and bashed for my statements, but thats the beauty of free speech.

I do hope you all have an amazing day though.

There are legal, moral and economic considerations that you probably have never thought about. What happens when the legal system is overrun by cases where a fetus tragically dies? What happens to the mothers that technically committed murder, do we throw them in prison? Where will the other children gain their moral compass? What happens when you take away a provider for the family if there happened to be a miscarriage.

Don’t tell me its different. If you believe that a life is formed at the moment of conception and that baby dies in the woom that it is murder. Then when the baby accidentally dies within the woom, it should be accompanied by a wrongful death or accidental murder lawsuit. Interestingly enough, those charges in some states are punishable by death.
Ironically, you could have a system where mothers who had miscarriages could be sentenced to death themselves.

Your going to think I’m crazy, I might be, but I just progressed down the legal path of cases involving “murder”.

Basically, just look at the overall effects of your actions. Don’t get me wrong though, I absolutely hate abortion, think it shouldn’t take place, and believe that a baby does have a right to life, but I am also a realist and a lawyer. I can tell you that if Rowe vs Wade is taken down, there will be a lot more of us, making a lot more money than you could possibly believe

Sounds like the TOP of the Democratic ticket, except Obama has never had experience in running anything of importance. A governor has to manage an organization similar to the one the President manages, albeit on a smaller scale.

“When McThuzeluh drops ten minutes into office, Putin will shopping for furniture for the White House.”

If Putin thinks Obama will win, he is probably picking out his Oval Office furniture NOW. If you were Putin, whom would you rather deal with--a “community organizer” or a retired Navy Captain with Sarah Barracuda as his backup?

As for “pro-life,” Obama’s problem is that even decent pro-choice people are not going to side with him after his support for infanticide/ live birth abortion. Jerrold Nadler, one of the most liberal members of Congress, said there is no such thing as a right to a live birth abortion.

So in other words Jesus thought slavery was ok.  Gee, now I know how the Christian South rationalized slavery for 400 years..

I worry a lot more about a Presidential candidate with ties to Louis Farrakhan and the gang and a candidate who gives thousands to an organization that publishes Hamas propaganda, etc. etc. etc. than I would about a vice-Presidential candidate with ties to Pat Buchanan. 

The Democratic ticket is owned by Mr. “Open Society"---the only “changes” to be expected there are those in the interest of this troublemaking, anti-American billionaire and his global socialist agenda.  He didn’t care about the Jews during the 20th century, and he doesn’t now. 

John McCain and Sarah Palin have what it takes to inspire Americans to remember their heritage of ingenuity, individualism, and self-determination.  And we need a strong counterweight to the relativism and scientism that is leading our society far too close to eugenic policies.

As for her “experience” she left her town $20 million in debt when she left it.  She’s no reformer.  She’s more of the same - spend what you don’t have on things that you want and who cares about the future - your kids and grandkids can spend their lives paying off your debts while never getting ahead.

That is what this election is about - do we keep spending money we don’t have and then cut taxes so that the debt goes up instead of down. Do we make real changes to get off of our oil dependency? And are we a country that can find the places where we agree and work on making those places better rather than focusing on the places where we don’t.

Palin’s answers to these questions are the same as Bush’s answers - and those answers are what have lead this country off of a cliff.  She’s no reformer and has no experience and has no business being a heartbeat away from the Presidency behind a 72-year-old man who has had serious health issues.

her husband sure doesn’t look like a pushover, and they have been together for a long time. he’s certainly ok with it, he can handle it, why can’t you?

Or is it really that it just doesn’t seem “"fair"” to some people?

Parents need to be there for their children, especially in their formative years.  How do you expect a woman to focus on her obligation to the country when she should be focusing on the development of her children, especially when one of them is an infant?

Tout Pro-Life all you want.  It’s what happens AFTER the baby is born that makes a world of difference.  Delivering a baby brings it into the WORLD; nurturing that baby and raising the child is delivering it to SOCIETY, and that’s the side of the argument that seems to be cast aside when talking ‘Pro-Life’. To be negligent to that baby’s needs, to not show it the love, patience, and nurturing as a parent is just a reprehensible as terminating it in the womb, in my opinion.  There is absolutely no meaning to ‘sanctity of life in the womb’ if the obligations to that child end at childbirth.

If Sarah Palin had any sense, she would have declined McCain’s offer.  She is busy enough as it is, focusing on her duties in Alaska to both her family and her constituency, but accepting his offer with a special needs child at home makes me think she has no real ‘family values’-- or she is willing to put them aside for the sake of her personal career goals.

Pro-life?  Not really.

Mrs. Palin, have fun with your skewed construct of ‘family values.’

You’ll find he praises “Hilter’s courage”...refers to congressman who support Israel as members of the “Amen chorus” and, in an infamous editorial piece, he began by listing the last names of soldiers sent to fight the Gulf War (A war he opposed).

Mr. Buchanan gave the the soldiers easily recognizable ethnic names, in the vein of O’Brian, Smith, Jackson, Lopez...obviously omitting a Jewish sounding surname.

The message that Jews were not fighting a war that, according to Buchanan, was a conflict only Israel and the ‘Amen Chorus wanted, was clear.

And now Jews are lining up behind a Buchanan supporter. Look before you leap--No one will be there to catch you.

Because of his advanced age, there is a very real chance that McCain could be stricken by a disabling medical condition or, God forbid, even die in office.

Who would then be commander in chief and in charge of national security? A totally unknown and untested political rookie, a young woman who was selected by the president, not by anyone’s vote.

It’s utter insanity. And as dangerous as it gets.

Posted by: allen bean | August 30, 2008 1:11 AM

This woman probably had tests to inform her that she would give birth to a downs syndrome child and made the decision to continue the pregnancy.  Doesn’t she then need to meet her responsibility to this child by commiting the majority of time to the baby.  I don’t get it! 

Do family values end when the infant exits the birth canal?!

Make a choice - - have a special needs infant OR spend your time on one of the most demanding jobs in the universe. 

It ain’t family values to choose the job and fame over the baby.

McCain/Palin has my vote.

Obama is wrong!  there are very bad people out there wanting to kill us-- and our American way of life.

Pam while you are safe at home tonight/or in bed----remember our Liberty-Freedom-and Search for Happiness comes to us with a great price.  ---you will find out that Obamas VIEW is dark and Hedious

We couldn’t say it any better!!  Everyone loves to point fingers without looking at themselves.  Obama has limited experience in Washington, but I’d rather have a VP with limited experience than a President with limited experience.  All Obama does is talk. (change, change, change) I haven’t seen him change anything.  If we want to talk about change, Palin has changed Alaska more in her limited experience than Obama has changed Washington.  I don’t care how much or little experience you have.  Show me how you’ve made a difference.  I admit that Obama can change things, after all he just recently changed to a new pastor.

JUST WORDS EH??
walks and quacks like a Duck--- must be a duck!
so that places you on the dark side!---
come into the light--- try Jesus!

If there is a thing that really pi*es me off is this double standard by the liberals and media. Obama is apparently loaded with all kind of experiences, Hillary is representing same old divisive politics, Biden has suddenly become a change (= reformer).... Remarkable.

What I would love to see is a ban on partial birth and third trimester abortions, while leaving the women’s right to choose intact for the first trimester or two.  I know a position like this is distasteful to both extremes, and many fall into one extreme or the other.  But we do live in a fallen world where unintended pregnancy is not always just an issue of imperfect sexual morals on the part of the mother.  And not all women, especially the young ones, can shoulder the expense and the responsibility of an unexpected life in their hands,and not everyone in this country has the family support or help around them to handle this when it does happen.  There are two sides.

McCain’s choice is an insult to all women, especially to Hillary. Hillary has given her life to human service.  Palin is pretty, I guess that’s what McCain would call “qualified.”