Skip to Main Content (access key 1)
Skip to Search (access key 2)
Skip to Search GO (access key 3)
Skip to comments (access key 4)
Skip to navigation (access key 5)
Skip to top of page (access key 6)

Comments by USA_Limey


151. AAI 07

Comment #83544 by USA_Limey on October 30, 2007 at 11:27 am

Comment #83538 by mejdrich:

Our European friends - stop trying to frame libertarians as immoral people.

Our Libertarian friends - remember who's guest we are, on this site, and stop alienating everyone in Europe.


"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9) ;-)

152. AAI 07

Comment #83522 by USA_Limey on October 30, 2007 at 10:08 am

we aren't going to persuade people who label themselves as religious or support religion to change there minds if there is no alternative support framework


I must respectfully disagree. This is such dangerous thinking; akin in my mind to saying we can't take heroin away from an addict without offering them methodone.

I also think its patronizing - you are essentially saying these people are weak and can't give up one safety net unless another is provided. I actually think we horrible libertarians have MORE intrinsic faith in individual humans than you do. To you it seems they are just dumb sheep who must be herded from one false god to another, and believe me, worshiping at the alter of a bloated welfare state IS a false god.

And finally, what about getting them to change their minds on religion based on the merits of the argument: rationality, evidence, whether it's true or not.

As I said previously; this seems to be an honest difference of opinion about economic models. I'm not bitter - if we were in a pub I'd buy you a pint.

Cheers!

153. AAI 07

Comment #83506 by USA_Limey on October 30, 2007 at 9:04 am

By the U.S. definition the vast majority of Europeans and Canadians are socialists if not Communists.


I strongly agree with this. I am still amazed at the perception by mainstream Americans I meet every day that Europe is just shy of outright communism! These are not extremists; they are my co-workers and the people who serve me my coffee in the morning. All anecdotal I know but it does seem to hold true in the heartland, (not Boston or San Francisco).

However, it only serves to underline the need NOT to associate any growing atheist movement with any perceived left wing ideolgy. I know many of you not in the USA will say, (understandably perhaps), 'but that's the US what has that got to do with us?' Let me offer the opinion that the USA is THE central battle ground against religious superstition. If we loose the worlds largest economy with the worlds largest military to theocratic lunacy we loose the whole fucking world. I really think it's that serious. We can't hope to have an impact on undemocratic theocracies in the middle east until we get all of our democratic houses in order.

On that basis, can we tone down the left wing rhetoric just for now? We shouldn't go out of our way to alienate people who might otherwise be on side. Just my thoughts - I await a good bashing and slap in the face for my heresy! :-)

154. AAI 07

Comment #83498 by USA_Limey on October 30, 2007 at 8:15 am

Comment #83496 by notsobad:

Some people just have to replace rational arguments with personal attacks,. Who does that remind me of...



... you've met my boss?

155. AAI 07

Comment #83493 by USA_Limey on October 30, 2007 at 7:55 am

Holy Mary Mother of God!

In my book you can get fucked, dickhead...
Go fuck yourself baby, you haven't got a clue.>


If Veronique,(who normally writes with such beautiful clarity and I greatly respect on this site), is loosing it then this thread needs to take a break and cool down.

Essentially we are disagreeing about economics here, (ok, and its social implications), I am not sure who fired the first shot in anger but can we sit back here and take a breath!

156. AAI 07

Comment #83338 by USA_Limey on October 29, 2007 at 6:05 pm

Comment #83316 by scooternyc:

notsobad - finally a voice of reason to join my own


... Hey Scoot, (sniffle sniffle), I guess my comment 111 didn't make the grade.

Must try harder next time...
;-)

157. AAI 07

Comment #82981 by USA_Limey on October 28, 2007 at 12:26 pm

Comment #82944 by Bueller_007:

unless you've got some proof to the contrary showing them to be atheists, I see nothing dishonest about the Dems making faith statements.


In all fairness, no, I don't have such proof.

I guess I am just sulking. I feel totally disenfranchised by the whole damn lot of them.

158. AAI 07

Comment #82957 by USA_Limey on October 28, 2007 at 11:04 am

mejdrich

We don't disagree as much as you might think. I just don't like Clinton/Obama talking about God. Maybe that's my problem.
I YEARN for the day a Democratic leader will have the guts to just be honest and say they are not religious. They don't even have to be offensive about it. Just politely honest.

As for my half-caff double latte mochachino comment. Oh come on, just some mild humored leg pulling where I come from. A spike up my bottom is inflammatory; not that.

159. AAI 07

Comment #82955 by USA_Limey on October 28, 2007 at 10:53 am

Regarding the right royal bashing that scooternyc has been getting for his comments, I think many of you have been unfair.

I don't believe I read scooternyc once say he would not help anyone. He just wants any help he may give another human being to be HIS choice, not a choice forced on him through government by taxation. Or maybe I am projecting because that is how I feel.

For me the essence of the argument is this comment by crafy, (I am not picking on you sir, this just boiled things dowen for me):

A society in which the government provides decent support to everyone, is a society where people will have the opportunity to "pursue happiness" without seeking comfort in the arms of religion


my addition would be:

...without seeking comfort in the arms of religion, but instead seeking comfort in the arms of government

As a Libertarian, (a dirty word here?), I see just as much danger in the power of big government as I do in religion. There is one big difference. No matter how loony the religious are here in the USA, none has ever, nor or they likely to ever come to my home with a gun and force me to pay a tithe to their church. If I don't pay my taxes however, the government WILL, (eventually), send people to my home with guns to either get their money or throw me in jail. Such is the power of government with it's legally sanctioned use of force.

If I want to give a buck to a bum in the street or some money to a local fund set up to help pay the medical costs of a person in need though the most unfortunate of circumstances, (I have done the latter but never the former), then PLEASE let it be my choice.

160. AAI 07

Comment #82945 by USA_Limey on October 28, 2007 at 10:24 am

Comment #82923 by mejdrich:

Three of the republican candidates claim they don't believe in Evolution. Every Democratic candidate is pro-choice. If the Democrats are pandering, as you claim, they are doing a shit job.



I am going to put this down to my not being sufficiently clear on the point I am trying to make and try again. Yes, it is quite clear that that the Republican canidates hold and espouse, MORE religiously based views than the Democrats.

If you have Rebuplican A who is vehemently anti abortion, and Democratic B who is Pro-Choice and BOTH talk about faith and God then who is pandering more to religion? I would suggest it is the Democrat, because they are trying to curry favor through their talk of faith with groups who they do NOT agree with politically. Does this make more sense?

You make not agree with that but I at least would like to think I am getting my point across.

What a substantive argument



I don't think it was an argument was it? So I am confused by this. I'll let that go.

161. AAI 07

Comment #82921 by USA_Limey on October 28, 2007 at 9:05 am

Comment #82669 by Bueller_007:

What a ridiculous statement. The left have made some ridiculous faith claims, but McCain, Giuliani and Romney have sold out almost completely to the religious right


Not ridiculous at all. Though I can imagine you choking on your half-caff double latte mochachino in indignation when you read that.

Hilary is out there dropping 'faith' and 'god' into her speeches any chance she can get. Apparently she attributes faith to saving her marriage. Barack Obama's recent speeh at at a Southern Baptist church in Louisiana made me want to puke.

Do we really think they believe all this crap? At least with the Republicans there is a chance they may actually share the views and beliefs they are espousing; with Clinton especially I see nothing but cold, calculating political manouvering: THAT is the very essence of pandering.

Rudy Giuliani was recently asked about his low church attendence. He replied; "I am not running f0r a religious office", and ended the conversation. Good for him.

My point was not that the Democrats have more established links with the religious groups but that they are trying to establish them. This again is pandering. And it is dishonest.

162. AAI 07

Comment #82661 by USA_Limey on October 27, 2007 at 6:43 am

I wanted to add my voice to that of mejdrich, Jolly Bloger, scooternyc, rebby and notsobad. It would be counterproductive in the extreme to link the secular/atheist movement to the Democratic party or just 'liberalism' in general. Especially the former. After all, is there a single Democratic presidential candidate who has come out as an atheist? If anything they are pandering to the religious more, not less, than the Republicans.

I am also concerned at the growing presumption, (on this site and elsewhere), that to be an atheist is to also be a Bush hating left wing liberal. It is bad enough we are still living with the baggage left over from the days of the soviet union when atheism equaled communism to most americans. Lets not make things any worse than they already are.

163. Why do we ignore the plight of ex-Muslims?

Comment #82026 by USA_Limey on October 25, 2007 at 2:48 pm

Comment #81966 by 82abhilash

I know we are going off on a tangent here


I don't think it is a tangent at all, I think it is the exact point we should be focussing on.

A person leaves their faith. They are threatened, their property is destroyed; the threats are physical with a very real danger of death. The established authorities of law and order seem to be paralysed and 'unable' to act.

What exactly is a person supposed to do?

164. Why do we ignore the plight of ex-Muslims?

Comment #81850 by USA_Limey on October 25, 2007 at 9:37 am

Comment #81791 by kraut:

The perfect american solution - works every time, in vietnam, panama, iraq...


Vietnam, Panama, Iraq were/are all foreign policies by a nation state. Right or wrong, successful or not what the hell do they have to do with internal law and order and the rights of an individual to defend themselves? This kind of knee jerk anti-americanism really pisses me off.

I happen to agree with fatcitymax and am glad I live in a part of the USA where I can legally carry a weapon AS A LAW ABIDING CITIZEN if I so wish. Police cannot be everywhere at all times, and particularly in these types of cases what are they ever realistically going to be able to do other than turn up after you've had your throat slashed? I cannot imagine living in parts of Europe where it is illegal to have the means to defend yorself.

Lets see some of these Islamic scum try this crap in Vermont, Pennsylvania or Texas and see how far they get. Thank you Jefferson for the second amendment!

165. Eugenie Scott on Intelligent Design and Young Earth Creationism

Comment #81762 by USA_Limey on October 25, 2007 at 6:28 am

Comment #81742 by notsobad:

USA_Limey,
you do realize that this site and its admins do not equal 'atheist history'?


My tongue was firmly in my cheek old chap. I'll try and make it more obvious next time.

166. A new website addition: Debate Points

Comment #81738 by USA_Limey on October 25, 2007 at 5:46 am

I am not a fan of this approach as it always seems to put us on the defensive. Answering their questions. Letting them on our turf.

I have always advocated attacking directly the dogma/history/precepts of their religion. Whilst useful to have, it is only by destroying their faith in THEIR FAITH that we will get them to abandon superstition.

Learn about Christianity, its early history; its plagiarisms and mistaken translations - most Christians haven't got a clue what a demonstrable fraud it all is. And neither do most atheists. (Ditto for Islam)

Well, just my view.

167. Eugenie Scott on Intelligent Design and Young Earth Creationism

Comment #81704 by USA_Limey on October 25, 2007 at 4:00 am

(OFF TOPIC)

Am I the only one who is beginning to wonder why we haven't seen the talk by Sam Harris yet?

Could it be, Comrades, his message was not welcome and it has been excised from atheist history; down the memory hole so to speak?

168. Eddie Tabash at AAI 07

Comment #80956 by USA_Limey on October 23, 2007 at 4:53 pm

I haven't seen much of Eddie but I did like his Galapagos talk and this was pretty good too I thought.

ChrisMcL I think anyone who will put their head above the parapet and step into the firing line, (what awful cliches but I won't edit because now I am just laughing at myself so you may as well too), is deserving of at least some respect.

From my limited knowledge it is my understanding that Eddie has been fighting the good fight for a lot longer than lets say a Hitchens or a Harris, so lets give credit where its due old chap.

Rock on Eddie!

169. Downward, Christian soldier

Comment #80716 by USA_Limey on October 22, 2007 at 6:48 pm

Ahhh... religion and the military.

Just take a look here to see where that ends:

http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm

http://www.nobeliefs.com/mementoes.htm

I also recommend these links for people who still insist Nazi Germany was secular.

170. Make Richard Dawkins a Knight

Comment #80578 by USA_Limey on October 22, 2007 at 7:55 am

Comment #80358 by Dr Benway was:

Any chance Johnny Rotten might one day become Sir Johnny?


...Only under a fascist regime Doc.

171. Christopher Hitchens at AAI 07

Comment #80191 by USA_Limey on October 20, 2007 at 2:26 pm

by Peacebeuponme wrote:

Ummm...am I missing something? Riley doesn't sound like a theist to me


Yes, Riley is being very careful not to sound like one. But me thinks he doth protest too much, if you know what I mean.

Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman! theist!

172. Christopher Hitchens at AAI 07

Comment #80182 by USA_Limey on October 20, 2007 at 1:14 pm

take the Bible at it's word. Absolutely.


You don't often get a theist to admit that. So I actually want to say thank you. You deserve credit in that respect.

But I am intrigued; if you take the bible at its word, how do you function. Surely there has to be a degree of cherry picking. You won't even get a young earth creationist who states the world is only 6,000 years old to say they believe in Slavery.

Always fascinating stuff this duality of mind business.

__________________________________________________
Carousel is a lie! There is no renewal!

~ Logan

173. A question of belief

Comment #80175 by USA_Limey on October 20, 2007 at 11:56 am

Keith wrote:

Or did you mean planet America?



I don't think he was being that inclusive. If you have spent any time in Texas you quickly learn they consider that state primus inter pares, except without the pares part.

Good point well made though. I'd bet my old local soccer clubs small stadium in England had more atheists in it on match day than Austin Texas!

174. Christopher Hitchens at AAI 07

Comment #80169 by USA_Limey on October 20, 2007 at 11:29 am

Riley wrote:

They claim that Stalin & Hitler were atheist and as such one should not blame religion as the cause of great evil


No way no how was Hitler's Germany atheistic; and it is extremely unlikely from the evidence we have (though not proven - how can you?), that Hitler was an atheist. This absolute falsehood needs to be challenged whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head.
Communist Russia was explicitly atheist so you are on firmer ground there; though again we simply cannot know if Stalin was or was not atheist, though he likely was.

So where are we after that? Precisely nowhere - of the two biggest mass murderers of the twentieth century one was, (probably), atheist and the other was ,(almost certainly), not. So that's a draw, tells us exactly nothing and lets move on.

(Apologies to Veronique, yes I know!)

175. A question of belief

Comment #80165 by USA_Limey on October 20, 2007 at 10:39 am

EEGuy,

I couldn't disagree with you more. Living a lie is never a good thing. Living that lie and what is more proclaiming it to all for votes is even worse in my opinion.

This is one of the inherent weaknesses of democracy as it is currently practiced in most western countries. Politicians are almost forced to be disingenuous. However, there are scales of dishonesty. It is my great suspicion, for example, that Hilary Clinton is about as religious as I am, but will tell any lie about her faith if she thinks it can bag her a few votes. This is fundamentally dishonest. If a politician can lie to us about their faith, (or lack of), what else are they going to lie to us about?

Personally I could never bring myself to vote for any politician who I suspected of deception on this point. I'd rather vote for a person I believed to be genuine in their faith, than a liar.

176. God's honest truth?

Comment #79766 by USA_Limey on October 18, 2007 at 1:23 pm

Won't this just make them feel oppressed and make them want to get on a boat and go the New World?

Ahhhh... the penny drops.

177. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79738 by USA_Limey on October 18, 2007 at 11:25 am

Comment #79735 by Stephen Maxwell

can't help but balk at the idea of these 'freethinker' camps for kids. Seems to me that it's just us lowering ourselves to their level.

Why should we need to send children to camps for this?


Agreed. Surely a good science club is a more preferable approach.

Teach the kids science and most of them will work out the rest for themselves.

178. Debate between Christopher Hitchens and Alister McGrath

Comment #79736 by USA_Limey on October 18, 2007 at 11:14 am

Comment #79670 by bluejway wrote:

Are you not too much of a self-mastur_ _ _ _ _ _ socieity here to learn from McGrath? ...Keep enjoying yourselves on RichardDawkinsAtheistSelf-CongratulationSite.Net


Speekin only for myself I can do not bgetter than to repeet hitch, ' I am not intrested in consensus baby. I am not in the mood. '

Surry about bad spellying and tiping; dont do it so god with left hand only.

179. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79492 by USA_Limey on October 17, 2007 at 12:42 pm

Comment #79489 by Northern Bright:

"where campers must try to prove that imaginary unicorns, used as a metaphor for God, don't (STET) [sic] exist."

;-)


Yes, I smiled at that too.

The image that came into my mind was of a theist reading this and scoffing something along the lines of, 'imaginary unicorns, why how ridiculous! And then their scoffing turning to puzzlement as the cogs turn in their brain...' errr hang on a minute...'

180. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79471 by USA_Limey on October 17, 2007 at 11:21 am

I watched the Coral Ridge video again.

Still fun but on the second viewing I was almost reaching my retchold.

181. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79454 by USA_Limey on October 17, 2007 at 9:37 am

Comment #79449 by Beth:

I figure the more money I make them waste by having them send their books and tapes to me for free, the better.


On the one hand, I agree; drain the bastards dry if you can. BUT, on the other hand, where is that money coming from? Mostly poor vulnerable people they have fleeced of a donation, people who can ill afford it. Living in the states I sometimes watch the Sunday morning televangelist shows just to see them operate; they are a marvel to behold, a true 'how to' handbook of the confidence trick. The people who call in and pledge money are in most cases the elderley, the sick, the lonely; people for whom that $20 bucks might be the difference between making the next gas bill or rent check.

The whole thing depresses the hell out of me.

182. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79442 by USA_Limey on October 17, 2007 at 9:08 am

Comment #79431 by Fire1974:

If you don't mind being outraged, or need a new monitor anyway, you can follow this link to their website and watch their slanderous video.

http://www.coralridge.org/


Thank you soooo much for this link. But I was not outraged Fire1974 and I don't think you should be either. Actually I had immense fun watching it!

Cheers!

183. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79425 by USA_Limey on October 17, 2007 at 8:33 am

Maybe they just want their money back after seeing "I, Robot."



Hey I liked that movie! My favourite story from the Asimov robot series; "little lost robot". Close second would be, "Escape!"

:-)

184. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79422 by USA_Limey on October 17, 2007 at 8:30 am

Thank you in advance for your gift


What a racket! Scare the shit out of the believers and then fleece them for a donation.

How does anyone buy into this crap!

185. Debate between Christopher Hitchens and Alister McGrath

Comment #79391 by USA_Limey on October 17, 2007 at 6:43 am

by fides_et_ratio:

but when debating the effects of religion with a man like McGrath, his non-evidence-based rants equate to a Sun editorial on immigration



Hitchens has travelled the world seeing first hand more of the effects of religion than Mr McGrath could ever possibly imagine in his worst nightmares.

Very disappointing fides.

186. Richard Dawkins receives the Deschner Prize

Comment #79129 by USA_Limey on October 16, 2007 at 8:43 am

by steve99

You are not going to like this, but I think we ARE special. If Fermi's Paradox is right, we could possibly be the only species that has a civilization for millions of light years. The only species that creates art, that writes poetry, that does science. I think mind is precious. I think it should be preserved


It's not that I dislike it necessarily; I just find it too uncomfortably close to religious egocentrism for my tastes.

Like a religious person who only attributes good things happening to god but not bad things you pick on art, poetry and science as examples of what makes us special. You neglect to mention attributes like genocide that make us 'special' too.

Be careful with that kind of thinking is all I am saying.

187. Richard Dawkins receives the Deschner Prize

Comment #79124 by USA_Limey on October 16, 2007 at 8:31 am

As I said, a possible mechanism for the Permian extinction was an initial 5C rise in temperature. Things went wild after that, and very few species survived.


Agreed... but some species did survive didn't they? And hey presto! Billions of years later here we are.

So it's ok. It will all work out.

:-)

188. Richard Dawkins receives the Deschner Prize

Comment #79120 by USA_Limey on October 16, 2007 at 8:01 am

by mmurray:

as someone who lives in a very dry continent, in a city that depends for its drinking water on a river system that may be to saline to drink in a couple of years if the drought doesn't stop it seems like a problem to me.


Yes I expected something like that. This is special pleading, 'it is going to effect me negatively therefore it is bad'. Well that's not good enough. In essence - bad luck. For every dried up river and disappeared pacific atoll there will be someone else somewhere in the world enjoying a benefit. If I was a Canadian farmer I would be looking forward to those longer growing seasons.

by steve99:

...Such changes would have had disastrous effects on the biosphere


I expected this too. 'Disastrous' for whom? Humans you mean?

I can only reiterate an earlier point I made.

If we are going to berate the faithful for thinking they are the centre of a god's creation and that he has a special plan for them we must reject hubris and egocentrism in all its forms. Who are we to say the current state of the biosphere is optimal or should be frozen as is for all time - not to mention of course this is a ridiculous hope. We should get over ourselves. Who do we think we are?

I don't like theists who think there's a god who loves them and I don't think much of AGW nuts who have the arrogance to suggest we are so damn special and important and powerful that anything we do matters on the scale of a planetary climate that rollercoaster's up and down over billions of years.

If we are on the way out so be it time for the lizards again maybe.

189. Richard Dawkins receives the Deschner Prize

Comment #79100 by USA_Limey on October 16, 2007 at 5:43 am

Brian, world citizen comrade,

Regarding the IPCC report, did you just read the summary written by UN bureaucrats or the ACTUAL report written by the scientists?

http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba378/

And please don't be picky with the site; this was just ONE of many links from many sources I could have pasted.

And no one got back to me on my other point, probably because it was considered moronic but it is actually central to the debate. If the Earth is warming why is this a problem?

190. Richard Dawkins receives the Deschner Prize

Comment #78982 by USA_Limey on October 15, 2007 at 4:17 pm

Comment #78959 by kaiserkriss:

USA_Limey... Missed your link


Scroll up to: 73. Comment #78904

Brian world citizen made a video, which you should watch, then the resulting thread grew. I was a very mninor participant. The two major protagonists were Brian and chbg21808.

191. Richard Dawkins receives the Deschner Prize

Comment #78956 by USA_Limey on October 15, 2007 at 2:12 pm

Kaiser kiss said:

THANKS for hijacking this thread and going so off topic it isn't funny anymore..


USA_Limey said:

But really, we should all de-camp to the other thread I referenced if we are really going to do this all over again!


:-)

192. Richard Dawkins receives the Deschner Prize

Comment #78953 by USA_Limey on October 15, 2007 at 2:08 pm

On the AGW debate:

I have never had this question answered by an Al Gore clone to my satisfaction:

So what if the Earth is warming?

But really, we should all de-camp to the other thread I referenced if we are really going to do this all over again!

:-)

193. Richard Dawkins receives the Deschner Prize

Comment #78904 by USA_Limey on October 15, 2007 at 10:33 am

Hey Brian , (world citizen), why not just point everyone to here:

http://richarddawkins.net/articleComments,1073,Global-Warming-includes-commentary-about-creationism,Brian-Coughlan,page5#comments

I thought you covered the AGW debate pretty well back there with plenty of references and that funny video you made wearing the UFO shirt.

:-)

194. Stretching the Search for Signs of Life

Comment #78838 by USA_Limey on October 15, 2007 at 3:54 am

I am going to admit I want there to be extraterrestrial intelligence despite the lack of evidence.

Is this desire no different to the wish of the theist to believe in God?

I don't want to be guilty of theist thinking, but am not sure I can step outside of myself to consider this rationally.

195. Stretching the Search for Signs of Life

Comment #78738 by USA_Limey on October 14, 2007 at 4:30 pm

Do you not understand the implications of the Fermi Paradox?


Doesn't the zoo hypothesis give a respectable answer to the Fermi Paradox? I personally think human hubris and egocentrism are what gets in the way of many people acknowledging the possibility of advanced intelligent life elsewhere.

If we are going to be hard on the theists for thinking they are the object of a gods creation we must reject the Fermi paradox as a similar, (though obviosly not the same), kind of thinking.

196. Muslims tell Christians: 'Make peace with us or survival of world is at stake'

Comment #78181 by USA_Limey on October 12, 2007 at 4:09 am

To those who have made some vaguely hopeful comments that this is a positive thing just think on this: why weren't the Jews included? Where is their letter?

As the elder statesmen of the three monotheistic religions from which the other two flowed I would have thought their inclusion was a prerequisite if it really is about 'coming together on the common essentials of our religions'

I don't buy this for one second.

197. 'Dirty War' priest gets life term

Comment #77969 by USA_Limey on October 11, 2007 at 11:05 am

Comment #77948 by stephenray:

"I don't ber-leeve ut!"


Yes,definitely related to Victor Meldrew.

198. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: abandoned to fanatics

Comment #77718 by USA_Limey on October 10, 2007 at 9:26 am

brainsys (comment 77716)

Clumsy English or not I thought Pantores attack was nasty.

I reacted emotionally and perhaps should not have. I have never claimed to be one of the cooler or wiser heads on this site and appreciate moderating influences like your good self. But what I took from Pantore's post was essentially, 'she works for the AEI, and I hate the AEI, so screw her what do I care if a muslim fundie slits her throat'. And make no mistake, that is what we are talking about. Someone slitting her throat. Not nice. Was I wrong to interpret it in that way? Maybe, again I admit my first response was an emotional one. To then throw a Pilger video in my face, (sorry, we'll have to disagree on Pilger), as some kind of supportive evidence for his position on Ayaan, (supporting my premise I think), was too much for me.

But thanks for the last post. We agree there I think.

199. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: abandoned to fanatics

Comment #77715 by USA_Limey on October 10, 2007 at 9:10 am

OFF TOPIC

Comment #77711 by notsobad:

Why do the Americans only have "leftie" and "conservatives"?



They don't. So your premise is incorrect.

I agree that most sections of the American media portray it that way and perhaps that is what you meant. All media in the USA is ratings driven. Conflict creates interest which creates viewers and ratings, hence the polarized positions and impression it's all left or right. But all Americans I know do NOT fall neatly into one camp or another. They are not simplistic and to judge them so is.... simplistic. There is for example a growing Libertarian movement in America, one that could well be serious trouble for the Republican party in close elections. I'd like to go on as this subject interests me greatly, but this is very O/T so I'll end there.

200. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: abandoned to fanatics

Comment #77710 by USA_Limey on October 10, 2007 at 8:50 am

Rokort said:

yesterday there was a documentary about Hugo Chavez, his 2002 period, by Kim Bartley en Donnacha O'Brien (here). I can recommend it and to be honest, it was very insightfull


Rokort, I haven't seen the documentary but consider this: the "people in the street" always love a tyrant when he is in the early 'making promises' phase of his power grab. I am not interested in his 2002 period. I am interested in his October 2007 period and counting. Five years is a long time. In 1934 Hitler was just a guy making promises to the people to re-build the German economy and restore their pride in country. Five years later....

More Pages: Previous | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | Next