Food for though. Chew carefully.

[Fusion]

At work today I heard the maniger use the exprestion "you have a better chance of meeting God". It really makes you wonder where America is going when even the small "religious" town has a lot of people using God's name invaine so casualy. I can understand some people, but the amount of exposer I get to ideas and language I get at work is fanominal. People call me sheltered, but in this day and age I concider that to be a good thing. And of course we all know you have a 100% chance of seeing God.

[The JAM]

[...unWARP!!!]

Good evening.


Well, according to the final chapters of revelation, EVERYONE has a 100% chance of seeing God. Where you go right after that meeting is a whole different matter.

[ZannRath]

Yes, the world is most definately going to heck in a handbasket, as I have been reminded frequently just by looking around at school. ;P Although I agree with your insight, we all have a 100% chance; where we go afterward is the real concern.

... And by the way, Hi! I'm new. ^^

[RHJunior]

A word to the wise:


Be careful not to mistake your own growing awareness of the world, and your own loss of innocence, for a sign of the world's decay. Read a history book, or an old magazine, or a newspaper from 20, 30, 40 years ago. Then ask yourself: was the world REALLY better when you were a child--- or were you just blissfully unaware of how bad things always were? The "golden age" everyone looks backwards to is often nothing more than the gilded memories of naivete.

In the past 200 years, we have established human rights and representative government, abolished slavery, given women equal rights and the vote, vaporized the Jim Crow laws, found the Polio vaccine, and seen the fall of not one, not two, not three, but FOUR tyrant regimes--- Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, Taliban Afghanistan and Saddam's Iraq--- and are putting the screws to countless others on a daily basis.

On the religious front we have seen the spread of the Gospel to nearly every corner of the globe... I am old enough to remember not only when the berlin wall fell, but to remember photographs from missionaries who were openly passing out bible tracts--- bible tracts!--- in the streets of both Berlin and Moscow.

Humanity, America especially, is enjoying a level of prosperity and personal and religious freedom unheard of in humanity's 10,000+ year history.... and those that enjoy it most are doing their damnedest to spread it to every corner of the world.

Is their evil? Is their wickedness? Oh Jesus have pity upon us, yes. We have sexual immorality established as a major industry. We have abortion-- the murder of innocent little unborn babies--- in every city. We have judges who consider themselves above the law, and courts who release rapists, murderers, and molesters onto the streets.

<I>as has been in countless ages past.... and often tenfold what we have seen today.</I> Unless you've been sold in a slave auction, rounded up and stuffed in a Nazi cattle car, been imprisoned in a siberian gulag for owning a bible, suffered a Viking raid on your neighborhood, or watched as your neighbors ripped out the heart of their eldest daughter to sacrifice to the Jaguar God, any claim on your part that "things have never been as bad as they are now" has earned you an unclaimed smack in the teeth.

This is not a decline: it is an ongoing struggle. It is folly to take this pinnacle of prosperity, freedom and wellbeing for granted, <I> but it is doubly folly to take our decline for granted as well.</I>

In my 34 years I have finally grown sick of that particular vein of Christendom for whom all news is bad news, and good news is worse.... every report of evil in the world is proof of the coming of the End of Times, <I>and so is every report of good news, too.</i>

The End of Days will come, it says in the Bible, in a time when nobody expects it. Noone knows when the time is nigh.... I contest that this is because the End of Days is not measured by a clock, but by a barometer. God has given man free will, which means that in the lesser scheme of things, our outcomes are unpredictable. But when the time is right, when the conditions have been set, when the barometer has fallen below that unknown mark, then the End Times will come.... and those who have repented from their sins and turned to Jesus Christ as their savior will be taken away to be with Him. We don't know when that will be, we can never know. But wallowing in end times schadenfreude does us not one bit of good.

[Fusion]

Welcome ZannRath! Have fun!

That is a very good piont. I really wonder...

[Sharuuk]

Yes, the world is most definately going to heck in a handbasket, as I have been reminded frequently just by looking around at school. ;P Although I agree with your insight, we all have a 100% chance; where we go afterward is the real concern.

... And by the way, Hi! I'm new. ^^

*extends paw* Welcome to the asylum....where normalcy is curable.

Shaaruuk

[Fusion]

Remember, there is no such thing as a normal person. So to be normal must be to be weird, and to be weird them must be normal.

[SolidusRaccoon]

And if you are just bat guano crazy?

[Sharuuk]

And if you are just bat guano crazy?

You make it sound like that's a bad thing!

Shaaruuk

[SolidusRaccoon]

And if you are just bat guano crazy?

You make it sound like that's a bad thing!

Shaaruuk

Well that bats are not too pleased about it.

[Greatdane]

Regarding to what RH wrote I can't say that I agree.

I know I'm an outlander so I might be wrong, but according to what I know America isn't that rich. Sure it's one of the richest countries in the world, but all the money are centralized in less than one percent of the population. To get a good education you have to pay for it, which means that many people who comes from poor homes can't get a good education. That is bad because they, in their poverty and social position, can't improve. In the end this results in groving poverty and greater social rifts.

Concerning the totallitary countries around the world, one must not forget that America had a large part in putting dictators on their thrones. Saddam Hussein, for example, was supported by the American goverment. Don't forget America's involvement with the Bin Laden family either. And what about the involvement in South America?

Besides, in my opinion, the greatest threat and totalitary state in the world is South Korea. They have nukes now, you know, and no country has been able to influence their nucklear program.
Iran has resumed its nucklear program too, ignoring the UN and USA.

All in all, I'm against countries interfering with other countries way of working, it just makes more trouble than it is worth. It's better to stay home and help those who need help in your own country before setting your eyes on other countries.

[Mwalimu]

Besides, in my opinion, the greatest threat and totalitary state in the world is South Korea. They have nukes now, you know, and no country has been able to influence their nucklear program.

Eh, I believe it is North Korea that has allegedly developing nukes while making inflammatory statements directed at various other countries, including the United States.

[RHJunior]

Yup. you are seriously misinformed.

You shouldn't take your perceptions of America just from what you see on TV.... precisely because those that control the majority of the press openly despise America and its governing principles.

1) In America, wealth is not "distributed." It is EARNED.

2) There are roughly 8 million millionaires in America, and 10.5 million half-millionaires. that's EIGHTEEN AND A HALF MILLION PEOPLE worth more than $500,000.00. Nearly all of those millionaires started out no richer than you or me--- and prospered. 31 million of the total 104 million households in America earn between $25,000 to $50,000.

3) Although the top 1% of American households control approximately 17% of all the wealth, they pay 37% of all taxes. The upper 50% of all households in America pay 96% of all taxes.... and if your household makes over $50,000 a year, you fall in the top 50%. ( http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/menu/t ... guest.html ) *THERE'S* your "unequal wealth distribution" for you.

4)America did, in the past, lend aid to rebel factions in the mideast, and to various tinpot dictators, as part of the realpolitik of dealing with the Soviet Union's designs on world conquest. It was decided that a grab-bag of pisspot tyrants was preferable to an ever-growing Communist Empire.

5)However, contrary to the urban myth, America did NOT have any dealings with Bin Laden. America lent aid to the anti-soviet resistance in the mideast region--- but Bin Laden was a pisspot can-carrier at the time, and not even living in the region in question. If he got any of the aid or training distributed, it was 2nd, 3rd, or 4th hand, and long after the fact.

6)As to Saddam, less than 2% of all the aid given Saddam from the 80s onward came from America. the other 98% came from France, Germany, and Russia.... and much of it came from France, Germany and Russia AFTER the embargo was established. "No blood for oil," indeed.

6)As always, those who sneered that America "established tyrants" are now sputtering in impotent, bilious fury that America has actually <I>deposed</i> one.

7)If we are, as our detractors claim, the one "responsible" for Saddam, then it is of note that we were the ones who spilled blood and spent treasure to take care of that responsibility--- even as our European detractors glutted themselves on Saddam's oil and other kickbacks.


8)It's North Korea, not South Korea. As to NK, it is effectively boxed in. Kim Il Jong knows that if he so much as twitches a finger toward the big red button, America, Australia, Japan, and every other member of the Coalition with so much as a pea shooter and a slingshot will reduce his little empire to a glow-in-the-dark 10,000 hole golf course. Taking him out in the manner of Saddam is currently out of the question: unlike Saddam, we waited too long, and he actually did manage to get his hands on some nukes, and God knows what other nasties. So the game with him is pretty dicey. Fortunately China finds it in THEIR best interests to lean on the Chia Dictator and keep him in line.

As to Iran, keep this in mind: <I>Thanks to Iraq, we already have a beachhead established in the area.</i> Not just militarily, but politically--- you better damwell believe the people in Iran, who are agitating already under the rule of the Shahs, got a good look at Iraq's recent elections-- as did every other population in the region under the shaky thumb of a tyrant. And you better damnwell believe those tyrants are sweating. Moammar Qaddafi, who had been obstructing weapons inspections, suddenly got REAL cooperative after he got a good look at Saddam Hussein getting his teeth picked on TV by a prison dentist.... and he stated so in just so many words: "I saw what happened in Iraq, and I do not want that to happen to me."


So yeah, America is still the freest, most prosperous and best country in the world, and we're still doing our damnedest to spread that freedom and prosperity to the rest of the world. And we still look a damn sight better than the rest of y'all on every front.

Of course, some of y'all don't make it all that hard.

[SolidusRaccoon]

Well said Ralph, very well said indeed. I am a very prosperous person. And I will be prosperous all my life. I have want for nothing thanks to God and this great country. I love this country dearly.

[ZannRath]

Thanks for the welcome.

My dad makes 100k's a year, but he's been working for the same company for 20+ years, but I do agree, you don't need to be rich to be prosperous. So long as you have enough money for taxes/bills, food, clothes, a family and do your part in the Work, you can do just fine. Heck, I've known of people deep into poverty that have prospered, merely because they are humble and know how to appreciate what they have. Just remember, you can't take your bank account, credit cards, cars or houses past this life, so don't let yourself get tied down to it.. Stockpile what really matters.

[Greatdane]

Ahem, if the people of Iraq were so happy for their new conditions then please tell me why they keep blowing stuff up? And it's not all of those who are commiting these bombings that supported the Saddam regime.

Did you know that the embargo that was put on Iraq actually helped Saddam? As it later turned out that no WOMD resided in Iraq it is obvious that Saddam used the embargo to his own gain. It made him able to put down his iron-fist and keeping it there because he sat on all the food, and that wasn't too damn much. With control of the food he was able to oppress the Iraqi people.

Also it has been found out that more people starves now than under the Saddam regime and that more people have been killed during these last few years than under a similar period under the regime of Saddam.

And yes, i did mean North Korea. North, south, it's easy to make a mistake. I did manage to get the facts straight about it though.

Oh, and you could say that with the democratic countries trying to enforce democracy on other countries that the democratic countries are going for the world domination. Just a thought...

I would like to write that I am a supporter of democracy, some of the things done by democratic goverments are just against my convictions.

And I do believe that USA was right to remove Saddam, he was a dictator and people have the right to choose, we just have to remember that he
was elected by the Iraqi people, although that was a long time ago. So he must have had something right somewhere.

And I don't think that North Korea is covering with fear. They have nucklear weapons. Only 9 countries, I believe, have that too. No country would dare to bomb North Korea now, they are to afraid of being hit by nukes themselves. That's called nucklear deterrence.


One cannot deny that in the USA the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. One cannot just say that the poor are poor because they brought it on themselves. In my opinion that's a lousy excuse. It is important in a country that the people support each other. If people get into financial problems, loosing their jobs for example, there should be a social net to help them get on their feet again. That's how it works in Denmark, but we have taxes set at 39% so we pay for it too. However we also get free education, free health-care and stuff like that. To take an example: If a poor man gets cancer in the USA he would die, he wouldn't be able to pay for any treatment so he would just die.
In Denmark if a poor man gets cancer he can go down to the nearest hospital and get the best healthcare possible.

[RHJunior]

Ahem, if the people of Iraq were so happy for their new conditions then please tell me why they keep blowing stuff up? And it's not all of those who are commiting these bombings that supported the Saddam regime.

Yes. Most of them are filtering over the border from Iran and other Islamic countries. The Iraqi people--- if you ever pause to listen to them--- are happy as hell. What, did you gouge your eyes out before they showed footage of the Iraqi people voting?

Did you know that the embargo that was put on Iraq actually helped Saddam?

Well, with the UN and france running a scam with the "food for oil" program--- yeah.

As it later turned out that no WOMD resided in Iraq

As it also turns out, WMDs were not the sole reason we went into Iraq. And FCYA, no WMDs were FOUND in Iraq--- <I>not even the ones he was known to still possess at the end of the first Gulf War, and for which he never made an accounting.</i>

it is obvious that Saddam used the embargo to his own gain. It made him able to put down his iron-fist and keeping it there because he sat on all the food, and that wasn't too damn much. With control of the food he was able to oppress the Iraqi people.

As opposed to every other year he was in control.

Also it has been found out that more people starves now than under the Saddam regime and that more people have been killed during these last few years than under a similar period under the regime of Saddam.

By who, the Howdy Doody commission? They've dug up over a MILLION CORPSES already from Saddam's mass graves. Men, women, children, babies. They may never find all the bodies. So unless a million Iraqis have DIED at American hands since the fall of Saddam's regime, STFU.

Oh, and a little longevity tip: if the brave, noble, kidnapping, hostage-beheading, baby raping, raghead "freedom fighter" insurgents don't want to DIE, then maybe they should STOP SHOOTING AT OUR TROOPS. And oh yeah, NOT BLOWING UP THEIR FELLOW IRAQIS might be a good move too.
Just a SUGGESTION, mind.

Oh, and you could say that with the democratic countries trying to enforce democracy on other countries that the democratic countries are going for the world domination.

"Oh no, the evil capitalist democratic oligarchy is going to--- gasp--- GIVE US THE VOTE! Those oppressor bastards!" There you have it, folks: a liberal who admits he's opposed to votes for women.

Just a thought...

No, calling it a thought requires the premise that actual THINKING was involved on your part. Do you realize how much of a howling moron you have to be to think that overthrowing a tyrant and giving his oppressed people control over their own country is "world domination?"

we just have to remember that he
was elected by the Iraqi people,

at gunpoint.

And I don't think that North Korea is covering with fear. They have nucklear weapons.

And they're eating dirt, cause they're out of food.

No country would dare to bomb North Korea now, they are to afraid of being hit by nukes themselves.

Try us.

One cannot deny that in the USA the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.

Except for all those, y'know, FACT thingies. Darn those actual statistics and numbers!

In Denmark if a poor man gets cancer he can go down to the nearest hospital and get the best healthcare possible.

If he doesn't die in line. Or get euthanized by the kindly doctors.

[CasVeg]

No country would dare to bomb North Korea now;
they are to afraid of being hit by nukes themselves.

Try us.

Why is this not a tee-shirt?

[UncleMonty]

Y'know, I don't even care any more where people get these fantasies about America being wrong to invade Iraq. They can make up fairy tales until the end of the world, and I'm not going to waste any of my precious time taking them in hand and educating them. I mean... The entire membership of the UN voted for sanctions against Iraq HOW many times over HOW many years for Saddam's refusal to provide proof that he'd destroyed the weapons of mass destruction that he'd used against the Iranian army as well as his own citizens?

No, some fools just claim Iraq never had 'em at all. The whole world was wrong about them. In fact, the UN never had anything to do with it! It was all made up by George Bush! Other fools listen to such blather and believe it.

Nah.. Go ahead. Bark your head off, Great Dane. My neighbor's dog does too.

[The JAM]

[...unWARP!!!]

Good evening.


Here we go again.....


I, a Mexican, supported fully the ousting of a man who threw babies out of incubators in Kuwait and gassed men, women, children, and babies. WMDs? I would consider an Al-Qaida terrorist a WMD the moment he gets hold of a plane or a car or some C-4. Weren't Al-Qaida training camps found in Iraq, mind you, one of the few governments that did NOT condemn 9-11?


And one last thing: "to prosper" literally means "to succeed", i.e., to complete the goal you set out to do. Finances and wealth MAY be a by-product of that.


Now, guys, please, if we're going to discuss politics again, can we try something like....waiting 10 minutes before you type your response after you read the thread?