I would also add flags to the list. You guys have an incredible fixation with the flag. Every trailerhome's got to have at least one flying proudly. What's with that?

The basic point Asher was making is true - it is very much a private matter here. Religion in public is increasingly rare whereas in the US it is much more prominent.
"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

I would also add flags to the list. You guys have an incredible fixation with the flag. Every trailerhome's got to have at least one flying proudly. What's with that?
"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

What's the mystery? A lot of us take pride in our nation's status as the world's sole superpower (I don't especially, but then I'm not one for group loyalty in general). There are proud, touchy citizens in every empire, and it shouldn't be surprising that the poor who have little else to be proud of should attach to it more securely. Canada isn't an empire, it's the partially cast-off territory of a former empire. Hence, no imperial pride. At least, that's how I see it.
1011 1100
My Dad (a WWII vet) flew the flag on holidays when I was growing up. That seemed appropriate.
When he retired to Florida and I went to visit, he had one up every day. That seemed odd.
Apolyton's Grim Reaper 2008, 2010 & 2011
RIP lest we forget... SG (2) and LaFayette -- Civ2 Succession Games Brothers-in-Arms

Why?
I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio
Behavior change.
Apolyton's Grim Reaper 2008, 2010 & 2011
RIP lest we forget... SG (2) and LaFayette -- Civ2 Succession Games Brothers-in-Arms

They're not backwards because they know religion is a personal, private thing and keep it that way.
The backwards aspect is not religion itself, but the need to force everyone else to abide by your rules. It shows a shocking display of social immaturity and arrogance when the religionistas feel their One True Religion and its beliefs should be reflected in a secular government.
"The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

HC proves he's dumb as a rock... Again.![]()
"Our scientific power has out run out spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men." - Martin Luther King Jr.
"A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself." - Joseph Pulitzer

Last edited by Heraclitus; March 4, 2011 at 11:24.
Modern man calls walking more quickly in the same direction down the same road “change.”
The world, in the last three hundred years, has not changed except in that sense.
The simple suggestion of a true change scandalizes and terrifies modern man. -Nicolás Gómez Dávila

Freedom from lies presented as truth by "news" outlets.
![]()

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain
In America you can even picket the dead and disrupt a fallen soldier's burial. Fred Phelps just won his Supreme Court appeal. The soldier's father will have to pay $100,000 in court costs.
"I say shoot'em all and let God sort it out in the end!

I'm sure HC will be triumphing this victory for 'free speech' and celebrating that the cruel father who tried to restrict the freedom of speech of these nutjobs is getting suitably punished.![]()
![]()
Jon Miller: MikeH speaks the truth
Jon Miller: MikeH is a shockingly revolting dolt and a masturbatory urine-reeking sideshow freak whose word is as valuable as an aging cow paddy.
We've got both kinds

I don't think he'll go that far. He'll just quote Jefferson or the ruling itself.
"The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "
Wrong thread.
But in the spirit of the fox news thread. Personal charity to the rescue.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/201003...s/ynews_ts1390
"Just puttin on the foil" - Jeff Hanson
“In a democracy, I realize you don’t need to talk to the top leader to know how the country feels. When I go to a dictatorship, I only have to talk to one person and that’s the dictator, because he speaks for all the people.” - Jimmy Carter

Huh? Wasn't I resonding to what Doc Strangelove said?
Jon Miller: MikeH speaks the truth
Jon Miller: MikeH is a shockingly revolting dolt and a masturbatory urine-reeking sideshow freak whose word is as valuable as an aging cow paddy.
We've got both kinds

Maybe I was responding. Who knows.
Jon Miller: MikeH speaks the truth
Jon Miller: MikeH is a shockingly revolting dolt and a masturbatory urine-reeking sideshow freak whose word is as valuable as an aging cow paddy.
We've got both kinds

I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

WHAT!!?? Fox news lies????![]()
------------------------------------------------
"A world without guns is not a more peaceful world, but a more savage one, where brute strength allows bullies to exploit people incapable of fighting back."
Sam Harris

I'll never forget holidaying in the US in 1999, and while I was there I heard on PBS radio that Musharraf had mounted his coup. I thought, gee, I'd better watch the news tonight. Got home turned on CBS. The leading story was that Shatner had been cleared of murdering his wife, the second story was that some old legendary basketball player had died of old age.
The fact that there had been a military coup in a nuclear power did not make it to their nationally broadcast nightly news.
(I understand CBS was the highest rating free-to-air news at the time. I'm not sure whether it still is.)

It's interesting the way the US has come to equate "liberal" with left wing. The actual meaning of the word as used in the rest of the world refers to freedom of the individual, a value normally adhered to more dogmatically by the right. Indeed, in Australia our major Tory (right) party is "The Liberal Party".

“As a lifelong member of the Columbia Business School community, I adhere to the principles of truth, integrity, and respect. I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
"Capitalism ho!"
It's always best to get things in the correct perspective.... Lionel Shriver had this to say about the British Labour Party's new (then) leader:
Lionel Shriver
Novelist and journalist
Marriage in the UK has become a personal, emotional choice, not a moral one. Ed Miliband and his partner are simply living the way millions of other British couples do, which we no longer call, as my mother would say, "shacking up". Whether he chooses to formalise his relationship is none of our business.
More interestingly, Ed's advisers would have bullied him into getting married long ago if he had aspirations to lead a political party in the US. This cultural contrast intrigues me even more in relation to his cheerful declaration on Newsnight that he doesn't believe in God. That footage would destroy his political career in perpetuity where I come from. The fact that he could win last weekend's election as both an unmarried father and an atheist means to me that the British public is streets ahead of America. No wonder I live here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...does-it-matter
As Thomas Jefferson would say:
Say nothing of my religion. It is known to my god and myself alone.
Vive la liberte. Noor Inayat Khan, Dachau.
...patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone. Edith Cavell, 1915

I didn't realize Community aired in Britain.the British public is streets ahead
"My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
"The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud

it's an english expression...
"The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.
"The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

You are clearly streets behind.
![]()
"My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
"The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud
Yep- as used by the American novelist Lionel Shriver.
Sometimes it's nice to see things flowing the opposite way, linguistically (I'm so disappointed to see Brits use 'ass' instead of 'arse' over here, and feel quite dismayed about British (ab)use of 'I'm obsessing'... ) .
Vive la liberte. Noor Inayat Khan, Dachau.
...patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone. Edith Cavell, 1915
Bookmarks