microchips for all americans by obamacare?

[MissBarbara]

What in the world gave you that idea? Islam easily has the worst reputation of any religion here in the West. The very fact that you thought to ask that question is evidence of that fact.

It seems when people here rant about religion, they tend to focus mainly on Christianity.  I was just asking if it is only Christianity they have something against or is it all religions?  Bill Maher stated it pretty well when he said Islam now is where Christianity was at the time of the Crusades.

It depends what you mean by "here" and "they."

Yes, people rant about Christianity, but ranting never killed anyone. And, despite the ranting, Christianity is the overwhelmingly dominant religion in this country, while Muslims make up less than 1% of the population. The president and vice president are Christians (and the VP is Catholic, God forbid!), the vast majority of members of Congress are Christian, and six of the nine Supreme Court Supreme Court justices are Christian (and they're all Catholic, God, again, forbid!).

GB is correct, Islam has an incomparably worse reputation here in the U.S. From what I've read, it's even worse in Western Europe (e.g. laws in France banning the wearing of burkas).

Muslims are judged by what a tiny minority of their members have done. And they are judged. The screaming outrage over the proposed erection of a Muslim Cultural Center a few blocks from the WTC site a couple of years ago is only one of many examples.

[Bexy]

GB is correct, Islam has an incomparably worse reputation here in the U.S. From what I've read, it's even worse in Western Europe (e.g. laws in France banning the wearing of burkas).

Muslims are judged by what a tiny minority of their members have done. And they are judged. The screaming outrage over the proposed erection of a Muslim Cultural Center a few blocks from the WTC site a couple of years ago is only one of many examples.

The burka is also prohibited in Belgium for security reasons. The way I remember it the burka was banned first in France after a suicide bombing by a terrorist dressed in a burka. The more extreme muslim groups screamed 'restriction of freedom' but when asked if they would allow a Western woman to walk around in skimpy Western clothes in their country the answer was no. It's called respecting your host country's culture, and for the extreme muslims this seems to be a one way street.

Even headscarves have been banned from state schools in my country after heavy debate (the Catholic schools were already free to ban anything they didn't like), because muslim girls were selecting schools based on whether there was permission to wear a headscarf and not based on 'educational value'. In fact ANY visible sign of religion has been prohibited for civil servants over here.

[Katiebee]

We and the British firebombed cities. Others should not forget that we are very pragmatic when it comes to our survival.

[Bexy]

We and the British firebombed cities. Others should not forget that we are very pragmatic when it comes to our survival.

I watched a documentary on Dresden, Germany, last week.  Allied incendiary bombs dropped in 1943 caused a firestorm that destroyed 90% of the city's center, and cremated all in its path, with temperatures peaking at over 1500 °C (2700 °F).

You guys almost make it sound as if you're proud of it.

[Elizabeth]

We and the British firebombed cities. Others should not forget that we are very pragmatic when it comes to our survival.

I watched a documentary on Dresden, Germany, last week.  Allied incendiary bombs dropped in 1943 caused a firestorm that destroyed 90% of the city's center, and cremated all in its path, with temperatures peaking at over 1500 °C (2700 °F).

You guys almost make it sound as if you're proud of it.

Not proud of it...Just Historical fact, something you can not change.
Just like Hitler rolled through Belgium to avoid the French Lines.
Not to mention "Anne Frank" and what she had to live through.
History is often not very nice, WW1 and the use of "gas".
WW2 and what the Jewish population suffered through. Not to mention the atom bombs.
If you want to go back further in history we can, because atrocities occurred in every war (both both sides).
Love,
Liz

[Katiebee]

Yeah, remember Richard Coeur de Lion?

At the walls of Acre, after sacking the city, and presented with a population both Muslim and Christian, he said, "Kill them all. his will know his own."

And out the entire population to the sword.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, remember Richard Coeur de Lion?

At the walls of Acre, after sacking the city, and presented with a population both Muslim and Christian, he said, "Kill them all. his will know his own."

And out the entire population to the sword.

The Bataan Death March was not exactly a holiday trip for those involved.
Just saying...
Love,
Liz

[watcher1]

Yeah, remember Richard Coeur de Lion?

Hey, leave me out of this.   

Curtis Lemay wanted to bomb the North Vietnamese "back to the Stone Age".  The U.S. almost succeeded, dropping more tonnage of bombs on Vietnam, both North and South, than in any other war.  Collateral damage was huge.

[Bexy]

I think the point is that America is just as ruthless as anyone else.  What I can't stand is the hypocrisy of those who insist "God is on our side."

Yes Bin Laden killed 3,000+ on 9/11.  Then we started two wars, and killed approximately 225,000.  So just admit it.  We will do anything to win, and will retaliate disproportionately to any attack.  Nothing to be proud of.  It's just the honest truth.  And we wonder why the world hates us.

Enjoy your McNuggets.  Obama wants to spend $1 Billion to beef up NATO.

This was EXACTLY my point. Something I heard often from people older than me was: "It would be good for the Americans if another country invaded them, so they would feel what it is like to have hunger and war sweeping over their soil for a few years, perhaps then they wouldn't invade other countries so rapidly, knowing what horrors they cause."
 

[anvil]

we are being invaded right now by hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.  just wait til its decided   that along with all our social programs they may as well give them the vote (amnesty and citizenship?). then they will have the political clout to vote Texas and California back to mexico for our illegal and atrocity ladened war with mexico back in '49.   

speaking of WWII, let's not forget Warsaw, Dachau(et all), Japans atrocities
in China and Pearl Harbor.

we ended the war under no uncertain terms and brought the losers back to world prosperity (an unheard of first!).

oh yes, and as bad as we are, rarely do we stay,,, we do the police action thing, then leave. we don't conquer and keep.  ( here comes Katiebee  with a counter example from the Spanish American War )

[Katiebee]

Our last war on home soil was 150 years ago.

[MissBarbara]

Our last war on home soil was 150 years ago.

150 years ago...to the day. The Battle of Piedmont was fought on June 5, 1864...

[watcher1]

Our last war on home soil was 150 years ago.

I think Pancho Villa invaded the town of Columbus, New Mexico in 1917 or thereabouts, leading the Army to send Gen. Pershing and his troops down there to chase after him.

[Katiebee]

Indeed I do, Toe. Full out gonzo, bat shit crazy, nasty in all aspects, war. Civilian rationing, industrial war-footing, full mibilization, unlike the pussy footing Pres. Bush did.

[Elizabeth]

If you are going to wage war..you should wage full scale war.
The shock, The Fear, The Total Destruction, The hopelessness of war should show it's full effects, but for only one reason....The simple idea that wars should not be fought at all, or if they are then a full scale war will show the futility of it.
Love,
Liz

[watcher1]

The hopelessness of war should show it's full effects, but for only one reason....The simple idea that wars should not be fought at all.
Love,
Liz

Liz, WOO. 

[insatiable]

If you are going to wage war..you should wage full scale war.
The shock, The Fear, The Total Destruction, The hopelessness of war should show it's full effects, but for only one reason....The simple idea that wars should not be fought at all, or if they are then a full scale war will show the futility of it.
Love,
Liz

That's the best idea, Liz.

Unless you take the fact that most of the time its the governments who wage the war. The common citizen, who are mostly moderates, who just want to go on with their life, gets sucked in it. Now, when you go full attack on them, more than people who actually started the war, the common people get punished. And this extreme action gives birth to a cycle of extremism, which goes for decades or maybe centuries. It gives birth to lost generations and spread hopelessness all around. It has happened countless number of times before, and will continue to happen, as long as we learn nothing from history.

[Elizabeth]

If you are going to wage war..you should wage full scale war.
The shock, The Fear, The Total Destruction, The hopelessness of war should show it's full effects, but for only one reason....The simple idea that wars should not be fought at all, or if they are then a full scale war will show the futility of it.
Love,
Liz

That's the best idea, Liz.

Unless you take the fact that most of the time its the governments who wage the war. The common citizen, who are mostly moderates, who just want to go on with their life, gets sucked in it. Now, when you go full attack on them, more than people who actually started the war, the common people get punished. And this extreme action gives birth to a cycle of extremism, which goes for decades or maybe centuries. It gives birth to lost generations and spread hopelessness all around. It has happened countless number of times before, and will continue to happen, as long as we learn nothing from history.

Like the quote says...."Those who have learned nothing from history are doomed to repeat it"
Or something like that.
Love,
Liz

[Katiebee]

If you are going to wage war..you should wage full scale war.
The shock, The Fear, The Total Destruction, The hopelessness of war should show it's full effects, but for only one reason....The simple idea that wars should not be fought at all, or if they are then a full scale war will show the futility of it.
Love,
Liz

That's the best idea, Liz.

Unless you take the fact that most of the time its the governments who wage the war. The common citizen, who are mostly moderates, who just want to go on with their life, gets sucked in it. Now, when you go full attack on them, more than people who actually started the war, the common people get punished. And this extreme action gives birth to a cycle of extremism, which goes for decades or maybe centuries. It gives birth to lost generations and spread hopelessness all around. It has happened countless number of times before, and will continue to happen, as long as we learn nothing from history.

Like the quote says...."Those who have learned nothing from history are doomed to repeat it"
Or something like that.
Love,
Liz

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it",[2] and "

• nly the dead have seen the end of war."

George Santayana

[Sensualtravler]

This has been played up and down at least every 6 months for the last many years.  The only time it is going to happen is if enough conservatives take away all the guns in the US via gun control and then start rounding up for a tagging. I'd say that's never going to happen but they are eroding too damned many liberties as it is. The more they are taking away the more people are saying "Don't do that! Or someone else is going to have to get up off the couch and stop you!" until pretty soon it's too late.

Do you smoke a lot of weed??