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Reply to There Ought to Be a Law... in Politics JoeUser Forums

Softballchicky32: Perhaps you haven't read all the comments but the intention of the blog was not to outrage but to open to comment what people would think of the idea. Many, like you felt I was insinuating that should "foist" church or Christian values upon everyone in such measure by governmental design. That was NOT the intention. The purpose of a blog (at least for me) is to open up to one another's ideas about what is going on

Reply to There Ought to Be a Law... in Politics JoeUser Forums

Terpfan 1980: Well, I wasn't advocating anything other than Sunday morning. BTW, I do not agree with vouchers because it creates an unequal educational system when the purpose of public education is to do the opposite. However, I understand that frustration also. I also am against government intervention in religion but I think there is a sense that government can "encourage" through law social change and indeed has in the pa

Reply to There Ought to Be a Law... in Politics JoeUser Forums

terpfan 1980: Well, my area has a history that might interest you. Where I live the businesses (like most businesses in the U.S. in those days) gave Saturday afternoon off but not Saturday morning. But workers would come to church hungover on Sunday and wouldn't listen to the sermons (which upper class business owners thought was shameful in that day and age). So they decided to give them Saturday morning so that they would drink Friday nig

Reply to There Ought to Be a Law... in Politics JoeUser Forums

Gideon: Well, as I said in the blog, I was one of those parents, the child turned out fine and yes, there were times when I said, "no, you can't do _________, you're going to Sunday School." If you look at the statistics (oh boy, now I'll really P.O. someone) in the 50's and 60's the majority of children went to some form of Christian education. Where I grew up they had a rule that if you didn't attend church you couldn't play in 2 church

Reply to There Ought to Be a Law... in Politics JoeUser Forums

Aaron Shepard: First, allow me to apologise to you for what you obviously thought was an insult. I have many Jewish friends including a Rabbi and consider myself very open minded about faith. Remember, I threw this question out to the bloggers to get ideas and opinions, not to voice a single idea, take it or leave it. I'm sure you have things about your synagogue (if you attend) that you might like to change too. Th

Reply to There Ought to Be a Law... in Politics JoeUser Forums

thatoneguyinslc: Yes, I agree it is up to the parents. But, let me ask you. We give tax breaks for having children, right? Don't you think "encouraging" parents with a law like this would help them to spend time with their children. No, not every parent will. But some will and that is much more than what I saw amongst the ones I saw at the meeting with the kids. As for you, you seem to have turned out ok. I guess the flack

Reply to There Ought to Be a Law... in Politics JoeUser Forums

Lord Shitzu: There are alternatives to Sunday School and much of what a parent does is something that should be left to them. However, you see how the path society is walking down eventually comes to the point where Christian education can not be done by churches on Sunday morning (most churches take all kind of grief if they try to have educational programs outside of Sunday morning). We already are in a situation in the scho

Reply to There Ought to Be a Law... in Politics JoeUser Forums

chiprj: The main reason I pose the question is for discussion. "You do have values, don't you?" is not an insinuation that the reader does not have values but rather because they do have values will consider Sunday School important even if they themselves are not of the faith. The importance of making a law in regards to this is that it gives parents a bit of an edge. They can encourage their children with it rather than being placed in a "

There Ought to Be a Law... in Politics JoeUser Forums

(This article reflects my sense of anxiety over what is a religious issue in a sense. However, I decided to put on the Politics Forum because it is about using laws to promote values in society.) Recently a long time friend invited me to a meeting of the education committee at my church. I no longer have children (well, she's 25, so, sort of, but n

Reply to Nothing More Dangerous in Politics JoeUser Forums

Lestat420: Not that kingbee needs help but here is the distinction between a contribution and the swift boats commercials. The commercial, if put out by the Bush campaign would be instantly discredited because it would signify the President's sponsorship. But the way it was done the White House can say "We trust in Kerry's War Record" thus staying out of the fray even though the commercials are obviously in support of Mr. Bush. Any person ca

Reply to So What You Really Want to Do....! in PC Gaming JoeUser Forums

delaron: Even Galactic Civ has an autosave feature that can be set up at different intervals. The thing is, that game has more complications and AI going for it than most others put together. Now about the new holographic projections.....!

Reply to So What You Really Want to Do....! in PC Gaming JoeUser Forums

Gideon: Well, there are good games like chess out there. The thing is, unlike Chess (where a piece touched is a move made) computer games become more about process than thinking. I, myself like thinking. When I played chess it was the biggest kick to win when any mistake could be fatal.

Reply to Change a Q to an N because Iran is Next in Politics JoeUser Forums

Madine: The CBC (Canada) has a report last night in which the reporter stated that the militias that are doing the killing are muslim Arabs that the government support and the victims are blacks whom they see as insurgents (hmmm...like Palestine?). The reporter interviewed a man from the relief agencies who said that the killing was supported by the government because the militias were in fact "their people" (Arab versus African). It would s

Reply to So What You Really Want to Do....! in PC Gaming JoeUser Forums

citahellion: Well, as I said it's always been a pet peeve. Here's the thing. 20 minutes of gaming in an RPG or strategy game isn't that long and it's not like the "grand foozle" as Scorpia used to call it (the big monster at the end) is the end of civilization as we know it. A friend and I were playing Wizardry once and played 2 hours (down on level 9, woohoo!) and had to get upstairs to the castle to save. We trudged through the hallways

So What You Really Want to Do....! in PC Gaming JoeUser Forums

Several years ago there was an article by Jeff Green in Computer Gaming World where he opined that PC gaming was not dead or dying but rather going through a tranisition. This seemed to me much like the wall street analyst who warns you to sell a stock when it's already down 20%. Since I have been PC gaming for the past 25 years (bought my first Apple II in 1979) it

Reply to Change a Q to an N because Iran is Next in Politics JoeUser Forums

Madine: I have been looking at North Korea for some time now in terms of writing an article about the situation. For now, I would say that we are paying "only lip service" to the idea that our policy is "tough." In actuality, the people trying to change the North Koreans are the Chinese who actually got the North Koreans to set up an "enterprise" zone to attract business from the U.S. However, U.S. restrictions on trade with the country (th

Reply to Change a Q to an N because Iran is Next in Politics JoeUser Forums

Madine: You note that Bush is dealing with North Korea through talks. Do you think they have been at all successful? I mean, Korea seems to be playing the "diplomats to the front, nuclear weapons developers to the rear" game. Doesn't sound any more or less fruitful than Clinton to me. As to the Palestinian question, did you see "Control Room". Good documentary on how different we and the Arabs see the situation in the Middle Eas

Reply to Change a Q to an N because Iran is Next in Politics JoeUser Forums

kram11: I'm not saying Iran is a threat. It is perceived that way by the administration. The Bush people seem to think that military action is required in Iran's case because they don't believe in muslim countries changing to democracy without "our help". Syria present less of a military issue because the country essentially has a token army. Iran's army is large and well equipped by comparison. What bothers me is that instead o

Change a Q to an N because Iran is Next in Politics JoeUser Forums

We want the world to be happy, like us. We want terrorism removed from the Middle East. We will say that we want democracy, free trade and general abundance. Of course, to do this, we might have to do a little inventing. But Americans won't mind, they like invention. Since the war ended in Iraq last year the quiet voices in the Bush Administrati

Reply to Some Franks Talk on Kerry in Politics JoeUser Forums

Madine: Do you think the candidate's military service, regardless of what we "know or don't know" is that important in choosing which one can best lead the nation? I mean, to me it isn't because when I was 20 I thought and did many things that might be considered a little silly, perhaps even preposterous. So, if the decision on me were made on that basis I'd wonder what the voter was thinking. I would say the same logic should apply her

Reply to Some Franks Talk on Kerry in Politics JoeUser Forums

vincible: I think Mr. Kerry is trying to distance himself from previous Democratic candidates (like the last several) who had no basis for saying security would be better if they were president. So, he must say something. However, what is Mr. Bush saying in his speeches. Last week in Tennessee he stated 8 times "you are safer." My point on the either man's record is that (as President Bush found out) on security "reactive" means cl

Reply to 6:00 brings a Codinated Political theory in Politics JoeUser Forums

The Political Machine: Politics is the "artform" of decision making in a society. Winning is how you are enabled to make the decisions. This is just as true today as it was in 1776 when the country was born. The problem is that the "cost" of losing is now way too high. This is not a baseball game "we'll get-em next time if we lose" but rather an every 4th year Superbowl with a winner take all me

Reply to Some Franks Talk on Kerry in Politics JoeUser Forums

steven: One of the love/hate relationships we, the public have is with photo-ops. We want a "visible sign" that our elected officials are active in a given situation (how many kindergarten classes did Bill Clinton visit?) but then when they do we cringe that we have no idea of the sincerity of the gesture. Certainly Kerry wasn't using Viet Nam as a photo-op, was he?

Reply to Some Franks Talk on Kerry in Politics JoeUser Forums

Madine: Where has Kerry said that his service record is all that important? As for GW's records, the information that the White House "occassionally finds" and releases speaks volumes about his "military career." Some might consider side by side Senator McCain and GW. Which military record are you proud of? Still, as I said, the voters shouldn't take either into primary consideration because who and what someone was 30 ye

Some Franks Talk on Kerry in Politics JoeUser Forums

“I think a presidential election year is a marvelous thing. I think Senator Kerry is a patriot. And I think what ... what we’re doing is, we’re seeing an attempt to sort of draw the lines between the two parties in this country. And I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Franks said." There seems to be a certain amount of sentiment suggesting John Kerry