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Post by BSam on Dec 14, 2003 17:48:32 GMT -5
yeah...i found out last night just from talking to people on msn... kinda strange...
oh well...i gots me a new avatar...
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Post by Freshie on Dec 14, 2003 17:53:38 GMT -5
I see that..me too
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Post by Charles Vane on Dec 14, 2003 20:10:48 GMT -5
Ok you get your rant Swans. I can't promise it will be long though, I'm supposed to start studying.
After Bush trashed the economny I'm glad it's going back to normal. I think the Saddam thing is a very big deal because that's what he's spending all of his time and America's money on.
I'm a very paranoid person. When Bush first got elected I said he was going to kill lots of people. He did that. I think more people would have been killed if Saddam actually had weapons of mass destruction. I think if he is re-elected he's going to want to go to war with someone else.. possibly North Korea, and they do have weapons of mass destruction. So yeah, but that's just me being crazy. And Bush wants to take away peoples right.. like abortion for example.
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Post by Tay Sachs on Dec 15, 2003 12:54:18 GMT -5
Japan still use corporal punishment in thier prisons. Japaneses prison not a place you want to be heading.
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Post by Ambidextrous Kevin on Dec 16, 2003 21:37:21 GMT -5
dont (not sure if they still do) the chinesse or the japanesse use water torture sometimes?
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Post by Kobolos on Dec 30, 2003 9:26:58 GMT -5
Just thought I'd send this along, since it's with the topic:
FBI urges police to watch for people carrying almanacs TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer Monday, December 29, 2003 ©2003 Associated Press
URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/12/29/national1426EST0580.DTL (12-29) 16:18 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --
The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning.
In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning."
It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books are annotated in suspicious ways.
_____________________________________ Ben Franklin is rolling over in his grave. Canada, can I come live with you?
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Post by Kobolos on Dec 30, 2003 9:55:26 GMT -5
I see the signs and omens pretty well:
the FBI warns of people with Almanacs
And now:
Bush's faith-based parks Your National Park Service is displaying religious symbols, selling creationist materials and is contemplating adding 'conservatively correct' images to government videos
BTW: "The primary duty of the National Park Service is to protect the national parks and national monuments under its jurisdiction and keep them as nearly in their natural state as this can be done in view of the fact that access to them must be provided in order that they may be used and enjoyed. All other activities of the bureau must be secondary (but not incidental) to this fundamental function relating to care and protection of all areas subject to its control." -- Stephen Mather, Director of the National Park Service, internal document, February 1925
Although President Bush's faith-based initiative -- one of the centerpieces of his domestic agenda -- has yet to win congressional approval, ramifications of the proposal has been felt in a number government agencies. The latest agency to take up the president's faith-based call is the National Park Service. Over the past several months, the NPS has brought Christian displays to our national parks and creationist books to the souvenir shops at the parks. It has also been reported that the NPS was considering removing historical information it found "conservatively incorrect" from historical documents and video presentations.
According to a late-December press release issued by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the National Park Service "approved the display of religious symbols and Bible verses, as well as the sale of creationist books giving a non-evolutionary explanation for the Grand Canyon and other natural wonders within national parks."
Early this fall, the Park Service approved a creationist text, "Grand Canyon: A Different View" for sale in park bookstores and museums. The book's editor, Tom Vail, writes: "For years, as a Colorado River guide I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary time scale of millions of years. Then I met the Lord. Now, I have 'a different view of the Canyon, which, according to the Biblical time scale, can't possibly be more than about a few thousand years old.'" The 104-page hard cover book contains essays and observations from 23 "creation scientists and theologians." PEER points out that "Park Service leadership has blocked publication of guidance for park rangers and other interpretative staff that labeled creationism as lacking any scientific basis."
"The Park Service leadership now caters exclusively to conservative Christian fundamentalist groups," said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "The Bush Administration appears to be sponsoring a program of Faith-Based Parks."
"In 1983, Wallace Stenger wrote that 'National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.' Twenty years later, National Parks have lost most of what once made them special. They are quickly coming to reflect the corporate, commercial and pro-special interest values of the Bush Administration at its absolute worst," said Scott Silver, Executive Director of Wild Wilderness. _____________________________________ Visitors to America's National Parks have never been asked to pray in order to be able to play. No one has ever been asked to pass a religious litmus test to hike and camp on America's public lands. As A Pagan, I and many others use the National Parks in ceremonies and in general communion with deity, we need no statues, granite monuments, giant crosses to reaffirm our faith, we just look around at the beauty of nature and know it was created by the divine, why can't everyone else see the same?
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Post by Kobolos on Dec 31, 2003 9:32:11 GMT -5
plaques that are religious are innocent at first glance, I mean, what harm does it do that the Eldery Ladies Cookie Club would like to donate a plaque, they are little old Ladies! But what most people miss when the ten commandments are donated by the Eagle's lodge is this...would they accept a plaque that included Islam teachings or the Wiccan Rede? It's okay to be a little open minded even if it offends you, but you have to keep in mind, when you do one for one group, you have to give equeal time. then before you know it, you have a plaque from the Buddists, the Muslims, the Christians, the Wiccans, the Jewish folks, the Witnesses, the Mormons, the Amish, the Satanists, and the Atheists who says it's all bunk. Who has that much room for all those plaques? My main theme is why is it so important to put monuments up like this? Why clutter the earth more? Faith Based Parks links (Check out the protest footage being edited out and the Promise Keeper stuff being added for "Equal time" (which I do agree with *IF* it had actually taken place *at* the memorial, which was the whole point.) (first two I found off of Google) www.peer.org/press/415.htmlvancouver.indymedia.org/news/2003/12/97894.phpAnd yeah, I confess, I just want to go to Canada, so I can become French Canadian. It's cheaper than moving to France. (Which I love for the language and yes food, not for their goofy politics) Your link for today, on the front page: Faith Based Director Jim Towey Discusses Progress to Help Americans The administration Monday eliminated more barriers that have kept faith-based charities from partnering with the Federal government to help Americans in need. mirror.eschina.bnu.edu.cn/Mirror/ed.gov/www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030922-2.htmlThat is of course if you are a faith based charity (or make that faith) that the administration approves of. Does the words "Seperation of Church and State" mean nothing to them? Why does it have to be a faith based charity? What happened to charities that includes a lot of kind hearted people who put their religious sects aside and did it because it's the right thing to do? Why don't we have a bunch of charity groups supported that includes people of all backgrounds? Because everyone wants credit for their good deeds it seems. We should be seeking to support the Anonymous Club. They must do more good work than anyone, I see their name everywhere. *wink*
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Post by Ambidextrous Kevin on Jan 7, 2004 18:17:58 GMT -5
Canada, can I come live with you? whoa, whoa, whoa. hang on just a minute. i know our country isnt looking the best, but lets not say things we can't take back.
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Post by Amphagorey on Jan 7, 2004 18:27:18 GMT -5
Sure Kobo. Our health care is free! But don't think Canada is all woop dee doo happy either. We've had S.A.R.S and fires, and Mad Cow and flooding and a heck of a lot of snow.(At least were I live, in Vancouver) But our salmon is good. Really good. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, salmon. I really pray that America makes more smart choices in the future, just as I pray all countries make good choices in the future.
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Post by Kobolos on Jan 8, 2004 7:59:20 GMT -5
whoa, whoa, whoa. hang on just a minute. i know our country isnt looking the best, but lets not say things we can't take back. I'd go. Then again, everwhere I want to live is somewhere outside the US, not due to politics, but just that they are really cool places.
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Post by Charles Vane on Jan 9, 2004 0:24:35 GMT -5
Oh can I come to Canada too? I won't take up too much room in the car.
I don't neseciarly want to get out the U.S.. well I do but I'd also like to live in New York, I dunno we'll see how badly things are screwed up in the US when I turn 18.
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Post by Nate2632 on Mar 4, 2004 21:11:19 GMT -5
If you hate your country so much, then move out. I am sick of all these people without any nationalism. But then again, we have free speech, and are allowed to say things like that. You should be thankful that you can, and you don't have to cover your face wherever you go.
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