Same applies here in Australia, regardless of which political party is in office.   I think Webgizmos summed it up pretty well when he commented on how politicians are too often tied to corporate powers... it leaves the door to greed and corruption wide open, and the purpose of government for the people is lost in the wheelings and dealings between politicians and the money grubbing power brokers.

It's not so much that there's way too much government involvement, but rather who is manipulating government to do their bidding... the money grubbing power brokers who sieze upon every opportunity to benefit themselves.  Government is essential to law and order, health care and other public services, but until government is detached 100% from big business, banking, property developers and arms manufacturers, those public services will always be tainted by those in high places seeking to further their own goals.

 

Why would I do that, when the parents of the victims of the WTC can find all the pictures of dead Iraqi and Afghan children plastered all over the web, and not give a shit about the ones that aren't theirs, either?  Hate begets hate -- violence begets violence.  LOVE is the only thing that conquers hate and violence, but you have to get past fear before you can get to love, and nobody's ready for that yet.  To paraphrase a quote from G. Gordon Liddy when Chuck Colson asked him in prison if he could see the light, they're (and you are) "not even looking for the switch".

I understand the need to spill blood -- I know there's a primal thing inside all of us that lives by the sword, and some of us are pitbulls who don't even need a reason, the struggle to spill blood is worth whatever it costs.  It's just the way things are and it can't be helped, but when someone in power wants to at least FEIGN a little regret for all the blood that's spilled, I think that takes a lot of courage.  That's all I'm saying. 

As long as you don't disagree with the leaders of the new Progressive Society........real freedom my ass.....remember the United States is a Republic NOT a Democracy as most people seem to believe. The Country is ruled by law.....NOT be the whims of the majority.

Bravo,  Bravo....

umm let's start with making it illegal for people to pray.  didn't you hear about the two counselors in Florida arrested for praying at a class function? 

Read about it here LINK http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2202699/update_arrested_for_praying_in_public.html?cat=75

While you read that, take a look at these links too.
1. LINK http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=42442

2. LINK http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=3877

3. LINK http://bridgetdgms.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/free-speech-on-trial-christians-arrested-for-praying-silently-at-gay-event/

4. LINK http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2136609/arrested_for_praying_in_public_guilty.html

5. LINK http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2009/09/arrested-for-praying-in-public-guilty-by-association/


I can get you more but I am sure, at least I hope you got the idea.   And I agree there are many that do not share my beliefs.  And you point is???

And no the Constitution does not protect you.  Read it again and you will not see anywhere where it says "you are protected from religion".  Keep reading and you will see where I explain this

And for you to call it polluting, then you show your weakness of mind, can you not stand firm in your beliefs and not get polluted as you say?

 

Notice that it is this type of thread that fills faster than any other thread.  This type of stuff gets us going.  And, there is nothing wrong with posting this type of stuff here.  We are all users of the forums and we all have a right to express the things that affect us. 

If you have a problem with this then go to another thread.  Your participation in this thread shows your interest and your reply shows your disagreement.  You said the same as those that oppose the original poster.  Surely if he said something that you agree with you would have not posted the "why here" whine.

 I am so sick of people using the first amendment as an anti-religion tool.
 It says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

Now let's take a look at this. "Congress" this is referring to the law makers. "shall make no" this means they cannot, shall not and will not make something. "law" this means a rule, decree, regulation, order  or policy.  Ok the key word here "establishment", this is where you "anti-religious" people get confused.  This word means "recognized as official" or in the context of the first amendment " the recognition by a state of a church as the state church."  Ok  and here is "of" (pay attention to this word its very important) .Ok last word 'religion', this is referring to a 'faith' or 'belief'.  This is exactly what it says.  Congress will not make a law saying that any particular religion will be an official religion of the United States. Such like how the Church of England was the official religion of the England and no one was allow to practice any other form of religion.  It doesn't say freedom from, it says freedom of.  There is a difference.  Typical of someone who wants to twist the constitution into saying something it doesn't, like using the freedom "of" religion to mean freedom "from" religion.


 

Actually no, that is they will fall under the free speech part, press would refer to printed material. Interesting that someone would refer the word press for "news reporting".  

 

Actually every society has this problem, not just America. The real problem of America is too long to explain here and the list can go on forever, but still no different than any other country.  But I tell you what the list of why this country is great is longer than the same list from any other country. 

Tell you what you make yours and I will make mine and let's see who's list is longer.  I think I will win.

  This is the first thing that wrong in this country, people lacking interest in what is going on. asleep much like most American's, when it comes to American politics.  Yet they voice their opinion based on the tidbits of information they get from the news media.  How typical.

  

True, in nature this is true.  But not in belief and personal outlook.  But to think what you say to be the only recourse, then what a boring life.

   there are other threads, feel free to move on

 

Exactly...

From us religious fanatics, this is what we say all the time... We are all children of God., but while we are here...

There is nothing wrong with nationalism...  is it wrong for me to root for the USA teams at the Olympics, or maybe the local college football team???

"Go Dawgs!!!"

There is nothing wrong with having pride in the country you live, because these people share the same fundamental believes... well...  except the liberals.

[quote] quote from Old Crab - reply #23 - Long live the new Progressive Society of America where real freedom can be heard.{/quote]
yeah.. OK, as you say this We have The government telling insurance companies like Humana to stop informing their customer about the proposed health reform.  Amazing...

LINK  http://activerain.com/blogsview/1253169/obama-administration-restricts-free-speech-humana-told-to-stop-informing-members-about-health-care

LINK http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090921/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul_medicare

they will not even share the health bill publicly...  yes  where real freedom can be heard.  Those who oppose of the health bill want to get it out to the public and the members of congress working on the bill will not release it. 

yes, and as of right now we have a schools teaching the children to praise Obama...
LINK http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/24/elementary-school-students-reportedly-taught-songs-praising-president-obama/

If you cannot see the socialist views this man's participates in and the people he surrounds himself with, then your rational mind is not overpowering.

LINK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mid5p_VMJK4

 

That in there lies the problem, the youth has no clue.  They base their decision on feelings and emotion...  the youth is not rational.  Most youth have no idea about how the government actually operates...  many have no idea why we are in the problem we are in today.  All they know is what they say on the TV...

 

That's for sure...  how many of these people actually rallied up other people or joined a cause that essentially requires participation.    And i guarantee that those same people never read the constitution, or really research anything they hear....  they let the information be fed to them... and we all know most news channels and reporting is of a liberal media.

But i also don't want to give in that everything is a conspiracy or that a select few have the control they have...  We can always get out of our computer chairs and stand in front of the Lincoln Memorial too.

Hey, Al Gore invented it so it belongs to us Americans... it's all ours!!! ...  muwahhahaha!

i will never understand how one can get offended by debate...  i think people that say that are the most ignorant of people.   this post was not to debate but to share a feeling and what he believes.  the debate came when the first person disagreed with this post...  for you to participate then throw in the "well this is stupid" hand or say exactly what you said, says that you have nothing to counter what have been posted since...  admit your loss of the argument... and move on...


no doubt and it definitely needs to be done....



this I have to disagree, your relationship with God is personal, but should conversation of God, about God be kept in the closet...  why should I not talk about God.  Why is wrong for me to teach those who don't know God about him.   Why should I leave the O out of God and place a dash in its place... why should we be afraid to speak of God.

We all get mad about being forced into religion, but where does this take place in America.  I never once made anyone believe in God.  I never said "You better or else I will...."  If you call me talking about God to you is forcing God down your throat try living in a country that actually does force it down your throat... in some countries you can be killed for not sharing the same beliefs. Why is that people get all worked up about hearing it... you are not forced to believe it...    No one outside of certain situation are exposed to it enough to be brainwashed.  Meaning "the general public", where 99% of the complaints of religious brainwashing come from do not get exposed to it enough to get brainwashed...  if this was the case then we would be having this conversation because you would agree with me in the first place.

The US maybe responsible for about 250,000 deaths of Iraq civilians, but saved millions of lives in doing so.  We rid the world of a evil man and you want to bitch.  Saddam Hussein kill more as their ruler than we did as their savior

 

 

Apologize for what???  For securing peace in the world, for giving tons of money to the world for aid...  For sacrificing lives for your safety...

APOLOGIZE???  TO WHO??  FOR WHAT??? 

We carry the world's financial burdens, we are the most productive society, we contribute more to the world more so than any other country and we carry those that do nothing!  We lead the world in just about everything. We give the world our blood, sweat and tears and we should do what ???

 Apologize for what, I say to you  and to who do you think we should apologize too ?!?!?! 

If you want the United States to apologize because we stepped on some toes, then get over it.

 

Wow....Now can I go to sleep 

lol, good response

In Judaism it's not proper to write the name of G-d on something that will be thrown away or destroyed. So, people use a hyphen so that it's technically not the name of G-d. Destroying it would be blasphemy.

No lol.

So does the idea that God needs a blood sacrifice for a creation He invented because they were tricked by another creature He invented by eating from a tree He ALSO created, so He allows Himself to be murdered as that sacrifice, then resurrects so that He can come back and judge anybody who thinks that story sounds silly and send them to suffer for all eternity in a flaming prison that He created, despite the fact that He's "all-loving, all-knowing, ever-present".  (How can He be both ever-present and yet "dead" when He was sacrificed?)

But hey -- if it gets you through the day and makes you feel better about your life, who am I to knock it?

Oh yeah...because China (Communism, which is supposedly WORSE than socialism), is just struggling so hard to maintain itself, with all those sittin' around on their @sses, doin' nothing, slackin' Chinese workers.   

A pleasure to read...a well thought out and articulate post.  

As long as we execute the corporate executives who put poison in their goods for a higher profit margin like China did to the manufacturing executives who put the melamine in the baby formula -- gotta hand it to those commies -- big money doesn't buy it's way out of death sentence like it does in this country.

I think the Chinese/Koreans/Japanese would have something to say about that... and given the US has exported many of its manufacturing jobs overseas, you may want to think about it, also.

Bravo, and well said, Doc.  When a country exports large amounts of its manufacturing offshore, its balance of payments goes down the toilet... via increased imports and reduced exports, and in a global financial market this is economic suicide.  I've been saying this for years about the Australian economy - hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs have been exported to Asia - and trying to balance the national economy electronically (playing the stock markets/investing monies we don't actually have) will not fix it.... more real money is going out than is coming in.

I've heard it said in many quarters that the Chinese, etc, have become far too powerful in a manufacturing/marketing/financial sense, but I rarely hear of anyone actually understanding the reasons why when they're bitching like all hell about it.  If China, S Korea and Taiwan have become the manufacturing/marketing/financial juggernauts being bitched about in recent times, it's because our greedy corporations have empowered them...through exporting vital manufacturing and jobs to those countries to maximise profits by exploiting cheap labour.

This is a constant and ongoing problem here in Australia... and I keep hearing the same is happening in the US.  Trouble is, the stable door was left open and the horse has bolted.  When the manufacturing infrastucure is dismantled and the workforce  thus becomes untrained in those fields, there is little or no hope of re-establishing it... the massive undertaking becomes far too expensive and the corporations do not want to... will not spend profits to rebuild.

So what does all this have to do with freedom (in the US... anywhere in the world)?   Um, let's see!  The propensity to pay decreases dramatically in societies with high unemployment and failing economies... and in turn, the crime rate soars because there are far many more 'have nots'  So yeah, you don't have the freedom from crime; you don't have the freeedom to buy; you don't have the freedom to work... etc, etc, etc.

And your... our politicians keep allowing this to happen.  Why?  Because they're too deeply entrenched in the corruption and greed of corporate dealings.   I keep reading how there is "too much government involvement", and maybe in some areas there is, but areas where it really is needed there is little or none... the prevention of manufacturing and jobs being exported overseas purely to maximise profits... controls to prevent massive salaries and payouts to already fabulously wealthy CEO's... controls to prevent banks and stockbrokers trading in electronic funds/funds they don't actually possess.

I keep hearing how socialism doesn't work/isn't liked, but all of the above clearly demonstrates that capitalism (in its purest form) doesn't work, either.  There needs to be a balance between the two... but that's never going to happen because the capitalists don't want it to, and have brainwashed the masses to believe socialism is the evil alternative.