Should there be a religious requirement to hold political office?

[Hauldren Collider]

Right, it's easier to call someone crazy than it is to explain why you disagree with them.

I'm lazy. Sue me. I've got better things to do than list all the little ways Dennis Kucinich makes the Democrats look like a bunch of semisocialist wingnuts.

[onodera]

I actually like Kucinich, but that's because I'm not American. His rule would be a bad one for the USA, but would greatly improve the world overall.

[Hauldren Collider]

By that metric, most USA politicians are good. I'd certainly rather see pretty much any member of congress leading {insert crapsack african nation here} because our standards for corruption are a lot stricter than most of the world.

[giblets]

By that metric, most USA politicians are good. I'd certainly rather see pretty much any member of congress leading {insert crapsack african nation here} because our standards for corruption are a lot stricter than most of the world.

You've lost me.

[Hauldren Collider]

Rereading that post, it seems I should have proofread

What I mean to say is that what we call a corrupt politician in the US is probably a bit better than average in slightly more corrupt countries around the world.

[Hauldren Collider]

I skimmed that and all I noticed is that he wants to establish a "department of peace". I don't agree but I don't see how it makes him crazy.

It's the fact that his email address is Dkucinich@aol.com

[EPW]

I think only Jews and Scientologists should be able to hold public office.

[Elok]

You've lost me.

He means that, if even the crookedest of our senators took over a place like Nigeria, he would still be vastly more just and responsible than the average head of state south of the Sahara. Of course, that's assuming that, in a country with few, if any, effective constitutional checks on power, a political situation that can't even be described as "unstable" and basically nobody in the outside world giving a damn provided the oil/minerals keep coming, said politician wouldn't "go native." Damn, that was a run-on sentence.

Having said that, what really makes me uncomfortable about Kucinich is not his new-age beliefs or his general hippie views but his veganism. Just as gun nuts are certain that Democrats want to (and potentially could, they think) take away their rifles, I have this nagging feeling that the little PETA leprechaun would really like to declare cows people and make it illegal for me to eat a yummy grilled steak. The fact that it'll never happen doesn't keep me from feeling just the tiniest bit paranoid about it.

I think that might be how diehard Islamophobes feel, only they don't stop to logically examine their feelings. They just have an image in their heads, buried and not entirely acknowledged behind the cerebellum: their little Johnny is walking out of biology class when Ahmed pops out of the shadows behind the lockers.

AHMED: Hey, man, you want to try Islamic Jihad?
JOHNNY: Gee, I don't know. That doesn't sound like anything in the Bible.
AHMED: The Bible is for suckers, man. You go Islamic Jihad, baby, you get *****es when you die. Seventy-two of them, no lie. Jesus don't give you ****.
JOHNNY: Well, when you put it that way...
AHMED: All the cool kids are joining the Mujaheddin.
JOHNNY: Oh, then sign me up!
AHMED: Also, try opium. We grow that too, and the circumcision won't hurt so bad.
JOHNNY: The what?
AHMED: Allah don't like people asking no questions.
JOHNNY: Sorry.

[Boris Godunov]

I'm lazy. Sue me. I've got better things to do than list all the little ways Dennis Kucinich makes the Democrats look like a bunch of semisocialist wingnuts.

How does a guy who barely registered a blip in the primaries when he ran for President somehow represent the Democrats? I'm guessing you don't think the Republican party is similarly tarred by Alan Keyes.

[Guynemer]

If Kucinich thinks we're being visited by aliens, his view is well in line with the U.S. population:

That's hardly an endorsement; it is awfully hard to go broke by underestimating the intelligence of the U.S. population.

[Hauldren Collider]

How does a guy who barely registered a blip in the primaries when he ran for President somehow represent the Democrats? I'm guessing you don't think the Republican party is similarly tarred by Alan Keyes.

I don't think for a second that he represents the majority of Democrats, I'm saying he's an embarrassment, and Alan Keyes certainly is as well.

[RoboCon]

I'm reminded of a lecture I attended back in the '94 midterms. Contract with a Christian America it was called, Guynemer spoke soaringly of Goldman Sachs and it became clear to us that Beck lives rent free in the minds of Obama worshippers. The whole crowd was high on stem cells. Oerdin couldn't speak much before 9-11. Then I have to come on here and read this liberal-hippie BS. Isn't this a Christian country, Mr. Klugman? 9-11 changed everything guys, as we approach the anniversary of his socialism, nobody can say for sure what is in Obama's heart but I promise you it is rotten to the core.

[Guynemer]

Huzzah! RoboCon is back, and has returned to full function!


Honestly, who ever created that DL: ****ing genius. Absolute ****ing genius. If I ever said anything bad about you ever, forget it. RoboCon = lifetime pass for any and all wrong doings.

[Boris Godunov]

That's hardly an endorsement; it is awfully hard to go broke by underestimating the intelligence of the U.S. population.

Yes, but I'd say belief in the Earth having been visited by aliens isn't therefore necessarily a position that makes one "bat**** crazy" or what have you. On the contrary, it's a belief held by a considerable majority, whether it's intelligent or not. Much like religion...

[Al B. Sure!]

Wait... aliens have visited us or aliens exist?