Good observations. I might also add that how we deal with these issues will also greatly depend on the politcal make-up of the Senate. Let's not forget we are voting for Senators as well and it is just as important.
JKH-1: "When a state Judiciary changes a state law for any reason, it has oversteped its power. The judiciary can strike down a law, but cannot rewrite a law." The role of the Court is also to INTERPRET the law as well as strike down laws that are unconstitutional. Interpreting the law is not a "liberal" division of powers. It was the Founders' who established the separation of powers. Laws and their language are often ambiguous and the l
Madine, "What theocratic laws has Bush passed?" I believe Steven adequately addressed this issue. It isn't so much laws he passed, (since the President does not pass laws, the legislature does), it is the way he uses his faith as the sole driving force to justify his policies and in the way he governs. I will refer you to an article in my blog that addresses this administration's governing style: "Is Karl Rove America’s Self-imposed Mullah?
Madine: "Anyway, in the mock pro-slavery argument you gave, the lynchpin is the assertion that Africans are not humans. Last time I checked, the Bible doesn't support that assertion." That is precisely my point...yet the Church used their strict interpretation of certain biblical passages to support the notion that non-whites were not actual human beings! It was a DISTORTION caused by highly questionable selectivity and strict interpretatio
Helix the II: "Please enlighten me, ye ol Wise one in the knowledge of politics." I never claimed to be wise and your derisive commentary to the contrary shows that you would prefer to attack the messenger in lieu of debating the issues. This usually happens when a person cannot debate the issues so they resort to personal attacks. Just a thought...
"Thanks to all that have no compulsion to wear religion on their sleeves and stick verse on their bumpers." Exactly! As if doing so somehow makes us "better" or "wiser." I think it is an exercize of patting oneself on the back more than anything else. I refer back to my "humility" statement.
Helix the II Posted: Monday, November 01, 2004 Can you prove your belief that Bush has done more damage to church and state seperation than any other president in our history? One single shred of evidence other than your belief and the belief of others? Seriously, some sort of proof? You can feel one way, I can feel the other way, but in the end neither of our "beliefs" hold any weight..except that the evidence to support my claim is the lack of your own evidence to support yours...(Wow, th
Madine, I never said GW Bush invented the use of religion in public policy but I would say that he has done more damage to church-state separation than any other president in our history. He rules by an iron-fisted theocracy and tries to pawn it off as domocratic governing. As for your other comments: "A strict interpretation would be to read the words and decide what they mean." I believe I adequately defined what "strict interpretation" means and
Steven: *Standing Ovation* I am in complete agreement. Kingbee, don't you find it just absolutely amazing that if you disagree with the christian-right's politics they automatically assume you know nothing about religion? I guess it never occurs to them that perhaps their interpretation of religious doctrinal beliefs is narrow, selectively biased, and rigid? Yet it is we who are presumed to know nothing about Christianity as if we grew up
Madine, In response to your post that suggests that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation, I have enclosed an excerpt from a very well written article which thoughtfully counters that view. I hope Steven does not mind the lengthy post but I felt that this was too important to go unanswered. "The preference of ideology to the pursuit of truth of the people who would make theocratic claims con
hipparade: "Thanks to the supposed "reasonable degree" of separation between church & state, slavery, Jim Crow & segregation persisted far too long under secular "democratic principles." Not true. The Jim Crow laws, slavery, segregation and laws banning inter-racial marriage were the result of racial bigotry within society and the flawed thinking of legislators who merely echoed the will of the ma
Champas, I thoroughly read your article and I do not see ANYTHING in it that either explicitly or implicitly suggests that your values are "universal" or "evolutionary." You are simply voicing your opinion, via your own observations, as to why you think Bush lacks cultural understanding and/or why he lacks good judgment. I think your comments illustrate a fully thought out analysis and is based on a variety of criterium and information. I don't know
Kingbee, good points. I would also point out that G.W. failed at every business adventure he ever attempted. When Bush's Ambrusco (spelling ?) oil business was in the tank, the only thing that saved the company was his and his father's Saudi friends' investments. And when you think about that, it's pretty strange that Saudis, (who are awash in oil and investment opportunities that go along with it), would want to invest in a small, failing, and for t
InBloom, very heart-felt article. I too am casting my vote for John Kerry because President Bush has damaged U.S. credibility so much that only an immediate change in leadership can BEGIN to repair the extensive damage done to our country's reputation and standing in the world. I believe that the soldiers are figting honorably to serve their country and because of that they will never have fought in vain. However, this war has done more to embolden
Dawia: The Pentagon is trying to muddy the waters and here's why: 5 Eyewitness News Confirms Video Shows Al-Qaqaa KSTP TV Friday 29 October 2004 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS can say with much more certainty tonight our crew was at Al Qaaqa. We can also report that at least one of the bunkers our crew saw there contained the high explosive HMX. That is the same type of explosive missing in Iraq, and an ingredient used to ma
Drmiler, "As far as the explosives you need to read this first." Link I went to this link but obviously you forgot to mention this part of the article: "But those 250 tons were not located under the seal of the International Atomic Energy Agency — as the missing high-grade explosives had been." They weren't the same explosives and the Pentagon can't confirm there own spin either. It's just a Pentagon tactic to try
Drmiler: "The Army has *stated* that they blew up over 200 tons of HE at that site!" That's not what they said. I saw the live Pentagon briefing where this was discussed.
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Draginol, "Well clearly anyone who thinks that those explosives were a big deal has to think Iraq must have been a gigantic threat." Wrong. How could 377 tons of explosives, other dangerous viruses, (etc...), that were monitored by the IAEA and UN inspectors and under seal prior to the invasion be a threat to anyone? Things that were NOT a threat have unnecessarily BECOME a threat post invasion. The fact is if we had THREATENDED military act
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Draginol: "I don't consider the 277 tons of explosives to be a very big deal. Certainly not as big of a deal as the 500,000 tons of explosives that have already been captured/secured/or destroyed. Not to mention Saddam's support of terrorism" First, I agree that those 277 tons are just the tip of a dangerous iceberg. I hardly call the looting of HIV and black fever virus, high-grade machinery used for nuclear weapons production that had previ
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sgsmitty: "indicates the majority of material was removed, by us." Instead of getting your "information" from FOX, who spun this story to the wrong conclusion as usual, try going directly to the source of FOX's story. This story came from a Pentagon briefing which I watched live. The military person the Pentagon put front and center to try and "muddy the waters" over this debate actually said he moved some explosives but he did NOT KNOW if w
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Daiwa: "Typical misdirection play once the initial smear fails to stick. Classic. You should apply for a job with CBS, T_Bone." Daiwa, I have been writing about the dangers of this war long before I became a JU blogger and have posted articles on my blog stating that the main issue is that the war has made us less safe long before the story of the missing explosives broke. You have spun my remarks so far out of their factual context for the
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I would hardly call 11,000+ Iraqi civilian casualties insignificant. That's not counting the wounded. That's how many are estimated to be dead and that figure is considered low by most experts. The Pentagon has no way of knowing how many Iraqi civilians are dead because they don't count them. As I have said in my own blog article, the 370 tons of missing explosives is just the tip of the iceberg. The Iraqi equivalent to the CDC was loot
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Myrrander, I want to check out your story...come see mine as well!
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Drmiler: “How can you explain all the tire tracks or the boot prints left in the dried mud around the bunkers.” First of all satellite imagery can be very misleading as we found out after Collin Powells’s presentation to the U.N. For example, during Powell’s UN presentation, he showed satellite imagery of tr
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Drmiler, It is exactly 277 tons...the mix up is because the original story used METRIC tons when describing the quantity of the missing explosives but when you convert it to U.S. weights and measures, it's 277 U.S. tons.