john5746

Sorry, wrote that in a hurry. What I meant to say was that extreme lefties attack ANYTHING conservatives say about minorities. I support Bennet. He could have picked a more politically correct example, but that was the point to his message - some shock value to express the stupidity of the caller's reasoning.

In Japan, I was treated to a dinner like this... Had shrimp wiggle down my throat, ate lobster while its claws were moving and watched some type of clam cut up while alive. I took for granted the great seafood over there! I applaud you IMM, as usual you defend your opinions well. From a health standpoint, I should be vegetarian. I think the world would be a better place if we gave up eating meat. It seems your main point is suffering. Nature is cruel. Many domestic animals have a better life than their wild cousins. I know, I raised a few cattle and had them named, before eating them. They were killed quickly, no suffering. Is this moral? Well, if I didn't want to eat them, they wouldn't exist in the first place. Animal testing is one of those things that is easy to support when blind. Since I don't see it and don't know the animals, I don't feel much. Kind of like war in a foreign nation. As far as eating animals, I am just too lazy and careless to be like you. It just isn't on my priority list. No good excuse. Now, some other Nations/people, not so sure it would be as easy for them to be vegetarian. Testing animals? This is probably the worst, but I can't condemn this because I value my species over others. I also value my family over other people. I would hope it is used wisely and as little as possible. I respect your decision to forgo any animal testing for your individual benefit, but you don't have the right to keep someone else from benefiting, IMO. If someone had the opinion to only eat animals and not plants, I would respect that also - not very healthy though. But, I would still want to use plants for medicinal purposes. You draw the line at suffering, I draw the line at species, others draw the line at intelligence, etc.

One Affect: Many men come to believe that the penis is some magical tool that will bring women to orgasm instantly.

I'm not going to argue with you much on this one, I happen to agree that SS should be invested in the market. I think most of the ideas I have heard about will have the monies in diversified funds and will require that more conservative investments be chosen for the years near retirement. If that is done, it should be safe, although there is no guarantee. If the overall stock market loses money over a 40 year period, no plan will work! If the plan includes aggressive growth funds that are concentrated in one sector or individual stocks, then people can lose thier shirts.

I could see the captions now "White man, protecting his families' water" "Black man, trying to murder white aid workers"

If a democrat were President, he would be able to get a mojority of democrats to support it. Privitization of the accounts has been the biggest battle. Investing in the stock market can be moronic if it is money that you need to survive. So, while an upper class person will need to downsize his home if he loses 30%, less fortunate people will be in poverty, which is the whole reason for Social Security. A portion of the money can be placed in index funds without going through all the mess of private accounts. This way, it is far less likely you will have unfortunate losers.

Al Gore didn't invent the internet, and Reagan didn't either. At best, I could say his tax cuts freed up money to fuel some of the dot com blast. But as usual, I would think the majority had nothing to do with government, just people taking chances. That had more to do with the speculation towards the future rather than anything from the past.

If we didn't allow Guns, there would be no gun stores to steal from. America seems to be stuck with this problem, but it would be nice if we could get rid of the guns The Brits probably don't feel this way, since every Tom, Dick and Bubba aren't armed there.

No "straight" gene either I guess. Sex is as primitive as breathing. Man has put some complexities to it, but the sexual urge itself - I don't think this is learned. It follows that the object of desire isn't completely learned either. Anyway, it doesn't have to involve genes to be biological in origin.

Bush Tax Cuts The economy is very complicated and I am no expert. I understand that giving tax cuts to ALL Americans is a good thing, the poor and middle class will consume theirs and give a short kick to the economy, while the Higher classes will invest some of thiers, providing more longer term improvements. I am just very skeptical when I hear something that sounds too good to be true. Keep lowering taxes and things will be great. The wealth from the rich will "trickle" down to the poor. It may have worked with Reagan, people still argue about that, but it doesn't mean it will always work, otherwise we could eliminate taxes altogether and be happy. I agree with you that reduction of spending needs to be looked at more. This President hasn't vetoed anything and has a majority in the Senate and Congress. Who is he going to blame? The New Orleans Mayor? At least Clinton had the balls to fight - when he wasn't using them for something else.

Well, I guess if someone feels that strongly, they shouldn't have to do it. I guess I just don't see how anyone would have such strong feelings against it. I disagree more with the method than not saying the pledge. I know I wouldn't want my parents to get involved or make a scene if I didn't want to say it. Again, not sweating the small stuff.

God means many things to many people. It isn't a particular religion. I agree that it doesn't need to be in there, but I am not offended by it. I think we tend to place the blame for the emotions we feel to much on external forces, when in reality they can be controlled internally. In other words, don't sweat the small stuff!

That is true, but the original topic of supporting freedom while being anti-gay was an interesting twist I thought.

I guess I am a moron. I think the flag stands for my fellow citizens who have sacrificed to make my life here in the US a good one. Not just lives, but tax dollars, etc. The least someone can do is recite a pledge. If you don't love or respect someone, you shouldn't depend on them for security and other things. Certain basics, while simple, are a foundation to society. Respect for fellow citizens and one's community and country are one basic foundation. Reciting a pledge doesn't instill that, I know but it certainly doesn't hurt. If someone is offended by such a thing, they are going to find themselves offended very often. Tolerance is a good thing to learn early on. Tolerance for society's rules and for people who may not follow them. So, if someone is offended by Christmas, Halloween, Easter, etc. don't expect everyone else to bend over backward to accomodate your position.

One big difference is ownership. One is private, the other government. A better example would be the military. The constitution and Bill of Rights are for the rights of ALL citizens. It doesn't have to explicitly state every minority group. You asked what made them "special"' date=' nothing makes them special. Interracial marriage was unlawful in some states up into the 60's. The original question was can you be against homosexuality, but pro-freedom. I say you can, because certain freedoms can be curtailed if they are deemed damaging to society. Drugs, prostitution, guns, etc are some that are banned or controlled. So, if someone really thinks homosexuality is damaging to society, they can be against it, but for freedom. Only being against it because of religion would be hypocritical.

Yeah, and on top of that, they have to do homework, study and pass tests. Then, when they grow up, they have to get a job and follow rules at work. Man, it sucks doing things you don't want to do.

Weird to have children learn to love their country and recite a simple pledge? Might help stop home grown terrorism, ya think? First, Britian might want to come up with an official Anthem and update it.