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Fascist police state vs. socialism - great choices.nm

Posted By: Hmm on 2006-06-08
In Reply to: Well, then go already... - ???

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You need some serious education on fascist police states
if you are referring to the U.S. Now, parts of France on the other hand has had to become a police state at times due to the riots against almighty socialism. Irony is a fun thing to watch play out sometimes and also how people think the grass is greener anywhere but where they are.
The US is becoming a police state.sm
It is not full-fledged yet, but 95% there. There is a rush to incarcerate (1 in 136 Americans are in jails and prisons). National ID card by 2010, RFID chips, face scanners installed at high schools, those who disagree with government are called homegrown terrorists (another false flag) or traitors. It is very well known that both Bush presidents support the one world government (NWO). The USA no longer resembles the Constitutional Republic it is supposed to be. Land of the free is an illusion.
Have you ever lived in police state?

Because if you had you'd definitely be able to see the VAST difference between a police state and the American state.


Also, your one-world government theory about the Bush's doesn't sync with your view that Bush is alienating the rest of the world, but I guess you think because Bush wants democracy for the world he somehow is planning to take over the world.


Wow, you are very steeped in conspiracy theory I'll give you that.


Chertoff says bird flu = police state.
It may not be foreign terrorists you have to fear at your door! - This week Chertoff announced that in the event of a widespread bird flu epidemic here it would not be the medical authorities or health departments who will be running the show - the Department of Homeland Security intends to take over and make our medical and quarantine decisions for us.

Apparently with the migrations of the world's birds about to begin, all the experts are saying that this bird flu could rapidly spread across the world and become a really serious threat.

What has the Bush Admin. done to prepare? They bought themselves 100,000 doses of Tamiflu. You, on the other hand, can wing it. There's no more left. Let's see, 100,000 doses ought to just about make sure his haves and have-more base will have plenty to go around.

Bush supporters in la la land will have no trouble believing those doses are meant for babies and the elderly, and of course somehow for themselves. For the rest of us, the word is: Garlic, goldenseal and echinacea, and stop filling the bird baths.
Civil Liberty Effects - Police State Pizza
http://www.adcritic.com/interactive/view.php?id=5927
Socialism involves state/government involvement
and they therefore help make decisions for those businesses. That is pure socialism. I was just waiting for their butts to get involved in the banks like this.....I'm sure they were planning this from the onset of this crisis.
That is why Oregon is such a great state to live in.
What a turn out! We live too far away to have gone, but like the other poster I don't do well in crowds.
I also saw bits and snippets of his interview on Good Morning America saying they should back off of Michelle. I think that's great that he is sticking up for her. Clearly the "other side" didn't post the message about what she was talking about and what she meant. They just took a snippet and made a commercial from it when they know that's not what she meant. Then they can sit there with a smirk on her face "she said it, it's on film" but they aren't showing what she meant, so they are purposely being deceiful. It is very low class and just too silly. What's next, they are going to find something his kids said? Also McCain and Clinton better watch out because if they go after Obama's spouse there is plenty of stuff on their spouses too. I read today that Clinton is planning to "unleash" something about Michelle and if she wants to bring anything up we've got plenty of dirt on her spouse "called impeachment". Then there is McCain's wife who is a recovering prescription drug addict and in 1994 escaped prosecution from stealing/using drugs (funny what money can buy you).
And same old fascist hoopla.
You're just so whacked out of reality by the propaganda they spoon-feed you that you're ready to serve like a slave the very people whose dearest wish is to grind you under their boot heels - only they can't because they need gullible servants like yourself to keep feeding their needs.

We've heard all too much about how the poor (when actually we were talking about the middle class, weren't we?)are the only ones who can help themselves and if they don't it's their own fault.

Well look ducky - that's exactly what the venomous bloodsuckers at the top want you to think. What a fool you are. You tell me why the poor pay up to 80% higher interest rates than the rich. Hmmm? Is that their fault? And no nonsense about them being credit risks - that's a load of garbage. The rich declare bankruptcy at a rate equal to or HIGHER than the so-called poor. But it's not just the poor we're talking about. An average middle class person can't get but a measly 1 or 2 percent interest on his savings - but how much interest do they pay on their bank loans,huh? - 15%? 17%? Oh yeah, there's a fair system.

We could go on and on about the inequities that are DELIBERATELY DESGINED AND BUILT INTO OUR FREE MARKET system to keep the poor AND the middle class struggling while the parasitic rich rake it in at their expense.

These problems aren't fixed due to any lack of character of the poor, you dummy - they aren't fixed because the parasitic rich don't WANT them fixed. They like things fine the way they are. THEY PROFIT BY THEM. And they are a very powerful group of people. The poor don't have a chance against that kind of sociopathic thievery without some kind of advocacy on their behalf.

And let's be clear about the fact that it's not riches themselves that are evil and not all rich people are the enemies of societies. But, unfortunately, in our PARTICULAR society right now, there is a strong and influential class that really are no more than parasites feeding off the blood of the nation. You have to hold a match to these ticks or they're never going to let go.
You are more unpatriotic.... and fascist
than most
Switch fascist movement with
conservative movement and you have a winner for your very obtuse definition! All except the organic part. We liberals like to know where our food comes from whereas the conservatives don't really care as long as it's cheap and exploits poor farmers.
GOP a fascist cult? See the list of criteria, seems it is so.sm


A Christian Republican speaks to other Christians
Beware: the GOP has become a fascist cult

I have been telling Conservative Christians that who should be howling at the top of their lungs is not the Liberal Left, it is the Far Right Christian Conservatives for they are being lied to, seduced and misled even more so than the Liberal Left. They are being seduced into fascism and that is not Christianity.

Christians are admonished in the Bible to be leery of new prophets for all prophecy ended with the coming of Christ the Messiah. In the Book of James we are warned of the evil that comes from the mouths of men. James 3:5-6: Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Book of James 3:9: With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in Gods' likeness. Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing.

Unless you are deaf, dumb and blind, Christians need to come to grips with the fact that Bush-Cheney are lying to the world and that is not a mark of Christian virtue, nor is it a mark that the Bible tells us to seek, or to follow as Christians.

One does not have to look very far or dig very deep to find one lie after another that has come from Bush-Cheney. It is all an agenda; it is all about empowerment and greed and doing anything they wish, to anyone, and wrapping that all up as lies and spin to deceive us all.

I see it very clearly and if you saw it as clearly as I do, you would not vote for them at gunpoint, either, for to do so would be making yourself a deluded Christian that is not using discernment, that is following liars, and is on the wrong course.

Many Christian teachings give step-by-step advice on how to recognize a religious cult, and the same basic steps are necessary to recognize a political cult. If you know what to look for, and take the time to study closely, you can accurately recognize that Bush-Cheney is a cult of lust, power and greed, none of which are considered Christian virtues.

How to Identify a Cult

Here's a few guidelines to recognize a cult. If several of these apply to a group which has approached you, think twice before getting involved.

Do they put the demands of the group before family, school, and interests?

Are they vague about what their beliefs are until you're in the group?

Does the leader demand unquestioning agreement or obedience?

Is the leader a charismatic person who claims special spiritual powers?

Does the group change your sleeping and eating patterns?

Does the group keep you in constant group situations and promote dependency?

Does the group feel that only they have spiritual truth and that all other groups and churches are wrong?

Do group members keep contacting you even after you have told them you are not interested?
In fact, if you look real close at Bush-Cheney and understand the fundamental dynamics of what brought Hitler to power, how he controlled the masses, how he sold the Great Lie, it is very easy to see that Bush-Cheney Compassionate Conservatism and Fascism are one in the same. Many hear the term Neocon and do not recognize that in its current operative sense, it is a term meaning New World Order Fascist.

Following are the Fourteen Common Threads of Fascism and how to spot fascism. I ask that you read and think, as an American, as a Christian. Use the mind that God gave you and use discernment that the Bible warns you to use as a shield against following wrong or evil. I have taken the Laurence W. Britt section headings and written what I have to say to you Christians, coming from me as a Christian about each of those 14 points.

Fascism Anyone?

Fascism's principles are wafting in the air today, surreptitiously masquerading as something else, challenging everything we stand for.

By Laurence W. Britt

The cliché that people and nations learn from history is not only overused, but also overestimated; often we fail to learn from history, or draw the wrong conclusions. Sadly, historical amnesia is the norm.

We are two-and-a-half generations removed from the horrors of Nazi Germany, although constant reminders jog the consciousness. German and Italian fascism form the historical models that define this twisted political worldview. Although they no longer exist, this worldview and the characteristics of these models have been imitated by protofascist regimes at various times in the twentieth century. Both the original German and Italian models and the later protofascist regimes show remarkably similar characteristics. Although many scholars question any direct connection among these regimes, few can dispute their visual similarities.

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. We were purportedly attacked by al Qaeda, but Bush-Cheney do not want any of us to know who the American and foreign names are that FBI translator Sibel D. Edmonds found in translating those documents and who financed 9-11. We were told Saudis did it, but what Sibel found disputes that and Bush, Cheney and Ashcroft put a federal gag order on her so you and I cannot know whose names are on that list.

Stop and think—what does protecting the identity of American and foreign names have to do with national security except to prove WHO DID IT?

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. If you have not figured it out yet, the USA PATRIOT Act and Patriot Act II are undermining the freedoms of all of us, treating us all as al Qaeda suspects, and is part of a larger New World Order objective. Consider this—there are some who want the American Dream only for themselves and you do not get to have it if they win. We are also having many things done in our name in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere that Americans would reject if they knew the truth. What is really disgusting is that both sides of the aisle are doing it to America. Their wealthy masters (contributors) are telling them to. They are making the big bucks and we are getting stuck with the debt, the dead and maimed soldiers, not to mention the burdens their families are bearing and the burdens the rest of our families are enduring, all in the name of lies, imperialism and greed.

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. The entire world now knows that Bush lied about Iraq. I have made millions come to know that the Taliban had signed a contract with Argentina based Bridas Corporation to build that pipeline we now control across Afghanistan. The shortest and cheapest route to the sea for $10+ trillion in oil and over $3 trillion in natural gas is from Turkmenistan, across Afghanistan, Pakistan to the ocean.

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism. George W. Bush is not Caesar and our troops are not Roman Legions out to do the bidding of the Wealthy Elite.

5. Rampant sexism. I hear one woman after another talking about how hot George W. Bush is and why they support him. This election is about the fate of this nation and has nothing to do with following a liar. I do not think the Stepford Wives is what ladies want to be, but there is plenty of Republican sexism and plenty of misleading to sell it as something it is not. They want your vote, other than that could not care less what you think, feel, want or need.

6. A controlled mass media. If you think you are getting all you need to know from Clear Channel, CNN and FOXNews, you need to look around and consider that maybe they are not being truthful with you, and maybe there is more going on in this world than Scott & Laci Peterson, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, etc. Maybe the media is answering more to their masters than to the truth. Maybe they do not show us the facts because their wealthy masters will not let them. How can you make a decision with only lies to found a decision upon?

7. Obsession with national security. To the point of treating all of us as al Qaeda suspects, lessening our freedoms for security that is non-existent. Always remember, what government takes away they rarely if ever give back. Consider the words of Thomas Jefferson—where the government fears the people, there is freedom. Where the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Welcome to current day America. Homeland Security is protecting the government, not you and your family, loved ones and friends.

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together. Separation of church and state is so that the government cannot dictate or ordain what each of us is to believe when it comes to religion. What has slowly evolved is a circumstance where our religion elite and government elite are pursuing the same end and I do not see a healthy future in that department. God is our Lord, not George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Jesus Christ is our Savior, not George Bush or Dick Cheney. Our church is within each of our hearts, not in the idle words from Washington, DC.

9. Power of corporations protected. What you have been witnessing over the past 12-16 years is the Corporatization of the U.S. Government and that by its very definition is fascism. That is why the corporations grow more powerful as you grow weaker. That is why they have the American Dream and many Americans do not and will not. That is why corporate fraud is not punished but if you do anything wrong, are punished. Richard W. Behan, author of The GOP, Inc calls them Movement Conservatives, and I call them Financial Terrorists. We are describing the same thing, but he is describing the disease and I am describing in my book the etymology of how that disease is systematically ruining this nation, this world and diminishing the lives of us all; how it kills hopes, dreams, futures. Richard is a Liberal and I am a Conservative and on this, we totally agree.

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated. Three million jobs lost, many of them organized labor positions and just in case one has a Ph.D or MBA, quit complaining and take the Wal-Mart job, lose your home, health care, etc. Look around you, Christians, at the hopelessness you see in the faces of those around you and the sheer indifference of the government that pretends to lead us, be us. When was the last time you saw goodness, integrity, honor, Christian values come out of DC? Such does not come from there, so be careful with your answer.

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts. Extend that to include freedom of speech, freedom of dissent, etc. If you stand up against this fascism, your report is sent to the Homeland Security Counter Terrorism Division, which in part explains why Homeland Security is protecting this government, not this nation, and in part explains why they just cannot seem to find the real terrorists. They are almost totally focused on U.S. citizens as the terrorist they fear. In my book, I define Financial Terrorists, what they do that creates the other forms of terrorism. We are not hated for our freedoms—we are hated for abusive U.S. policies and that is driven not by you and me, but that is driven by DC and their wealthy corporate masters. Greed is not a Christian virtue.

12. Obsession with crime and punishment. Lest you have not noticed, Ashcroft is batting 0 for 5,000 in the department of nailing the bad guys. I sent a letter to President Bush, Kerry and the Democratic National Committee on September 30 and these were two of the demands for the truth I put before these leaders and wannabe leaders:

2. I demand to know what energy companies were in that Cheney Energy Task Force meeting and what discussions there were as to the steps that would be taken to remove the Taliban and Bridas Corporation as the last remaining obstacle to the United States controlling the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline. I met that company in 1999 and have known since then about the Bridas v Unocal, $15 billion interference of contract lawsuit in US District Court, Southern District of Texas. I also know about the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on September 9, 2003 that upheld the Bridas $500 million arbitration settlement and the March 22, 2004 denial of Writ of Certiorari at the United States Supreme Court, Case 03-1018, Turkmenneft v Bridas

3. I demand to know how many prisoners are being held at GITMO and other places that are either BRIDAS EMPLOYEES or are persons that know all about Bridas Corporation and what your administration did to get control of that Trans-Afghanistan pipeline.

This administration is more focused on defending themselves against Americans who do not buy off on their lies than looking for al Qaeda. They are more concerned about four more years of entitlement to plunder this nation and others abroad. They are totally focused on taking over trillions of dollars worth of oil even with lies and making war to do so. That is not a mark of Christian virtue.

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption. Just look at Cheney-Halliburton and one should have all they need to know. Look at the no rule of law brought against Enron, Tyco, Williams Communications Group, Global Crossing, etc., etc., etc., and the millions of investors plowed under the in wake. You are poorer and they are wealthier than ever. When you figure out that the robber barons are the major campaign contributors to both parties and they want legal rights under color of law to plunder you, let me know. You will have had an epiphany.

14. Fraudulent elections. The 2000 Election still stinks to high heaven. If you have not heard, all across the U.S., Republicans are signing up people to vote. If Republican, those are being recorded; if Democrat, being discarded in the trash. That is not American; that is abusive, deceitful and un-American. Check Voter Fraud, KLAS, George Knapp, Las Vegas, NV.

I spent election night 1994 with RNC Finance in Washington, DC at the Renaissance Hotel, 10th & K Streets, at the table of William J. McManus, former RNC Treasurer. I pulled out of the RNC (Republican National Committee) when I learned that the Contract with America and the media spin was actually a Contract On America. It is all about Big Corporate business and socially malevolent to folks like you and me. Look close, pay attention.

Remember ladies and gentlemen, the U.S. government is not America, merely the instrument of government in America. We are America, not them. U.S. Corporations are not America, merely businesses based here. We are America, not them.

When they lie to us to lead us, they do not deserve to lead us


Disagree. We have a fascist corpocracy, long overdue
The democracy will emerge once we clean house and get a real American elected to office. Excuse me for looking forward, not backards.
Two Border State Governors Declare Illegal Immigration State of Emergency

Two Border State Governors Declare Illegal Immigration State of Emergency



SIGN THE PETITION!
CLICK
HERE!

THANK YOU!


You can have our federal money along with a new state motto: "Michigan - The Slave State". n
NM
I don't believe those are our only two choices, thanks.
And the science has NOT yet demonstrated that we need any such choices at all.

Read up. Get educated.
Basically we do only have 2 choices s/m
Our whole election process needs to be revamped.  To start with how about doing away with the electoral college?  The popular vote should do just fine.  Then there was the matter of redistricting under Clinton?  Bush Sr?  Junior?  Bush Sr, I think, since the redistricting made it easier for the Republicans to win the electoral college vote.  Our government corruption, I believe, begins with the election process.
Shelly - there are other choices
We've still got over a week til the election. There is a lot you can read up on, and you never know what's going to happen in whatever time is left. I'm not going to say who you should vote for. That is an individual decision you should make. Also note that if you feel very strongly against both candidates there are other choices. Constitutional, Independent, Green party, etc. IMHO, if you want to look on a lighter side of it, just realize that your vote alone if you were to vote for either of them would not be the one that breaks the tie and wins a victory for them, but if you feel very strongly to vote there are other choices. At least you'll feel like you'll have contributed in the voting process but not chosen someone you don't feel strongly against.
Lifestyle choices
Just wondering where the line should be drawn.
Everyone here in the US can make choices and
why do you not just look? So simple.
novelty VP choices always lose

Geraldine Ferraro.  Gore and Lieberman, etc.


 


it would be my children's choices,not mine
x
Delighted that I've still got choices.

Some of the reasons for this are:  I have saved as much money as possible.  I have never lived beyond my means, never bought too much house, new cars, or gone into debt for travel, bling or doodads. 


I was not able to afford college, but I paid attention in high school and made sure I got maximum benefit from my education.  For years I worked in an unglamorous civil service job I no longer much enjoyed, until I could retire with a pension and health insurance. (Of course, I may lose this option when healthcare becomes free to all, and rationed to people my age.)  Part-time MT is my retirement job; still working, still saving.  


I took a steady (plodding) course until, in my 60s, I may actually manage to fade out fairly comfortably.  No flash, no pizzazz, just careful planning and self-discipline.  I have supported the charities of my choice and voluntarily helped those (again, of my choice) who are less fortunate than I.


Aha!  But now here's Obama saying that I have been much too lucky in my life and that, as selfishness is NOT a virtue, I must be prepared to see all my careful work undone because, while I've been busy being an ant, others have been grasshoppers. 


Obama's policies will do me nothing but harm.  Those who feel they have no options but to wait around for rescue have not been paying attention. 


so the choices were a racist or a fiction writer...sm
If you think Allen only said *macacca once* then you are naive, and I know you are not. He was only caught on camera once. His own friends said he was prejudiced in college and the *macacca* statement on the record is evidence he has not changed. The man had a noose in his office for Pete's sake.

Judging a candidate by his fiction writing. He claims, *It's not a sexual act, Webb told [radio host Mark] Plotkin regarding the Lost Soldiers excerpt. I actually saw this happen in a slum in Bangkok when I was there as a journalist.

The duty of a writer is to illuminate his surroundings.*

Is what he wrote tasteless - YES, but it was fiction. I will hold out on defending his writing just yet. I have not read the novel, but being an avid fiction reader there is no way I would try to judge a writers integrity or personality from what's in their novel.
Hope you enjoyed your freedom/choices! sm
Sometimes what we thought was so bad starts to look better when we get something worse, especially when we did not see it coming.  Socialism is not going to be as great as you might think.
The catholic school offered several choices of
--
elighted that I've still the means to have choices.

Some of the reasons for this are:  I have saved as much money as possible.  I have never lived beyond my means, never bought too much house, new cars, or gone into debt for travel, vacations, bling or doodads.  For years I worked in an unglamorous civil service job I no longer much enjoyed, until I could retire with a pension and health insurance. (Of course, I may lose this option when healthcare becomes ''free'' to all, and rationed to people my age.)   I was not able to afford college, but I paid attention in high school and made sure I benefited from my education.


I took a steady (plodding) course until, in my 60s, I may actually manage to fade out fairly comfortably.  No flash, no pizzazz, just careful planning and self-discipline.  Aha!  But now here's Obama saying that I have been too fortunate in my life and that, selfishness being NOT a virtue, I must be prepared to see all my careful 


Great post, great insight, great analysis, thanks!..nm
nm
Laws vary state-to-state

Many people were confined against their will just because someone wanted them "out of the way." These were normal people with no mental illness - that is why it is so difficult - don't blame the liberals. Blame your state.


CONFINING THE MENTALLY ILL


In the legal space between what a society should and should not do, taking action to restrict the liberty of people who are mentally ill sits in the grayest of gray areas.

Our notions about civil and constitutional rights flow from an assumption of "normalcy." Step beyond the boundaries and arrest and prison may legally follow. Short of that, government's ability to hold people against their will is severely and properly limited. Unusual behavior on the part of someone who is mentally ill is not illegal behavior. Freedom can't be snatched away on a whim, or on the thought that a person is hard to look at, hard to hear, hard to smell.

It was only a few decades ago that the promise of new medications and a change in attitude opened the doors of the mental hospitals and sent many patients into society. There, they would somehow "normalize" and join everyone else, supported by networks of out-patient facilities, job training, special living arrangements and regular, appropriate medication. But the transition has been imperfect, long and difficult.

In some parts of urban America there is little professional support for those with mental health problems. A new generation of drug and alcohol-fueled mental illness has come on the scene. People frequently end up on the street, un-medicated and exhibiting a full range of behaviors that are discomforting at the very least and threatening at their worst.


There are other choices. I find Obama and McCain equally offensive, so I am voting for Ralph Nader.
Bob Barr might also be a good choice.
Red state, blue state?

Written last Thanksgiving:  "Some would argue that two different nations actually celebrated: upright, moral, traditional red America and the dissolute, liberal blue states clustered on the periphery of the heartland. The truth, however, is much more complicated and interesting than that.

Take two iconic states: Texas and Massachusetts. In some ways, they were the two states competing in the last election. In the world's imagination, you couldn't have two starker opposites. One is the homeplace of Harvard, gay marriage, high taxes, and social permissiveness. The other is Bush country, solidly Republican, traditional, and gun-toting. Massachusetts voted for Kerry over Bush 62 to 37 percent; Texas voted for Bush over Kerry 61 to 38 percent.

So ask yourself a simple question: which state has the highest divorce rate? Marriage was a key issue in the last election, with Massachusetts' gay marriages becoming a symbol of alleged blue state decadence and moral decay. But in actual fact, Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country at 2.4 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants. Texas - which until recently made private gay sex a criminal offence - has a divorce rate of 4.1. A fluke? Not at all. The states with the highest divorce rates in the U.S. are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. And the states with the lowest divorce rates are: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Every single one of the high divorce rate states went for Bush. Every single one of the low divorce rate states went for Kerry. The Bible Belt divorce rate, in fact, is roughly 50 percent higher than the national average.

Some of this discrepancy can be accounted for by the fact that couples tend to marry younger in the Bible Belt - and many clearly don't have the maturity to know what they're getting into. There's some correlation too between rates of college education and stable marriages, with the Bible Belt lagging a highly educated state like Massachusetts. But the irony still holds. Those parts of America that most fiercely uphold what they believe are traditional values are not those parts where traditional values are healthiest. Hypocrisy? Perhaps. A more insightful explanation is that these socially troubled communities cling onto absolutes in the abstract because they cannot live up to them in practice.

But doesn't being born again help bring down divorce rates? Jesus, after all, was mum on the subject of homosexuality, but was very clear about divorce, declaring it a sin unless adultery was involved. A recent study, however, found no measurable difference in divorce rates between those who are "born again" and those who are not. 29 percent of Baptists have been divorced, compared to 21 percent of Catholics. Moreover, a staggering 23 percent of married born-agains have been divorced twice or more. Teen births? Again, the contrast is striking. In a state like Texas, where the religious right is extremely strong and the rhetoric against teenage sex is gale-force strong, the teen births as a percentage of all births is 16.1 percent. In liberal, secular, gay-friendly Massachusetts, it's 7.4, almost half. Marriage itself is less popular in Texas than in Massachusetts. In Texas, the percent of people unmarried is 32.4 percent; in Massachusetts, it's 26.8 percent. So even with a higher marriage rate, Massachusetts manages a divorce rate almost half of its "conservative" rival.

Or take abortion. America is one of the few Western countries where the legality of abortion is still ferociously disputed. It's a country where the religious right is arguably the strongest single voting bloc, and in which abortion is a constant feature of cultural politics. Compare it to a country like Holland, perhaps the epitome of socially liberal, relativist liberalism. So which country has the highest rate of abortion? It's not even close. America has an abortion rate of 21 abortions per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 44. Holland has a rate of 6.8. Americans, in other words, have three times as many abortions as the Dutch. Remind me again: which country is the most socially conservative?

Even a cursory look at the leading members of the forces of social conservatism in America reveals the same pattern. The top conservative talk-radio host, Rush Limbaugh, has had three divorces and an addiction to pain-killers. The most popular conservative television personality, Bill O'Reilly, just settled a sex harassment suit that indicated a highly active adulterous sex life. Bill Bennett, the guru of the social right, was for many years a gambling addict. Karl Rove's chief outreach manager to conservative Catholics for the last four years, Deal Hudson, also turned out to be a man with a history of sexual harassment. Bob Barr, the conservative Georgian congressman who wrote the "Defense of Marriage Act," has had three wives so far. The states which register the highest ratings for the hot new television show, "Desperate Housewives," are all Bush-states.

The complicated truth is that America truly is a divided and conflicted country. But it's a grotesque exaggeration to say that the split is geographical, or correlated with blue and red states. Many of America's biggest "sinners" are those most intent on upholding virtue. In fact, it may be partly because they know sin so close-up that they want to prevent its occurrence among others. And some of those states which have the most liberal legal climate - the Northeast and parts of the upper MidWest - are also, in practice, among the most socially conservative. To ascribe all this to "hypocrisy" seems to me too crude an explanation. America is simply a far more complicated and diverse place than crude red and blue divisions can explain.


I don't know what state you live in but in my state

they are adding police and only in the big cities do they have paid firemen. The rest are volunteers.


I look at it this way: If a state can't stay in the black, then they have to cut spending some place that wouldn't jeopardize the safety of the citizens. Threats of cutting essential services like Barney Fife stated today are unjustified. Cut the non-essential services first.


Our governor talks about cutting back on services, laying off government workers, which I think is a good idea because government is too big anyway, but then he turns around and spends more money on non-essential items. Doesn't make sense.  


 


 


One of the police chiefs
of one of the parishes in LA said that civilian water management people and civilian engineers etc. were being recruited to come there because the National Guard was overwhelmed in size and in capability. He said some had just come for 2 or 3 missions in Iraq or Afghanistan and were exhausted. I'm sorry I did not get his name. I will be more vigilant next time so if you want to tell someone they are alledging something that is untrue you'll get the right person.  I's just the messenger. Since I am not there I have no idea how many National Guard are there, on call, whatever, but I still believe they are needed here more than there.
We are not world police
So Saddam was a bad person..so what..that means we are supposed to sacrifice our hard earned taxes to pay for a war in Iraq?  That means we are supposed to sacrifice our brave military to invade a nonthreatening country?  There are many places in this old tired world where people are being brutalized..It is not our responsibility to be the world police, it is not our place to save the world from itself.  If Iraq was a threat to America, that would have been a different story.   This invasion and control of a Middle Eastern country was thought up in the early 1990s by Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz.  On the other hand, we are no better than Saddam now..We have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, destroyed an ancient country, we cant even give them full time electricity or fresh water or safe secure homes and jobs.  The war was wrong, the situation in Iraq is worse than when Saddam ruled.  Iraq was better off with Saddam in power.  However, keep trying to justify the war..It provides me a chuckle daily when I see the republican spinmeisters come up with a different reason for invasion almost daily. Bush says Iraq will be a comma in the history books..I disagree, Bush will be looked upon as a warmonger who got it so wrong, a failed presidency
Not our job to police the world...
Clinton - Kosovo. Clinton - Somalia. People died there too. If we had stayed in Somalia and nipped AL Qaeda in the bud there...if Clinton had accepted bin Laden from the Sudan...if, if, if. Have you read the Iraq Liberation bill? The idea for invading Iraq to topple saddam was born during Clinton's term...Bush did not invent it. All the same people who protest it now voted it into law. How would you expect anyone to take you seriously? It is never the liberal's fault. That is the one thread that remains true.

Yes, it is a matter of CHOICE. Why, though, is it only YOUR choice?

You danced around it, but it is very true...because there were some botched abortions in the 40's and 50's, we now have abortion on demand, our own genocide to the tune of 1.2 million a year, and somehow this is acceptable to you in the name of CHOICE. TO some of us, it isn't. You get choice, we don't. You need to change the name of your party, because it has little to do with democracy. If abortion was put to a vote of the people it would fail. Precisely why your party will not allow that to happen.

Because of this war we have ignited the fires of extremists and terrorists? Where were you for the first world trade center bombing? Where were you for Khobar Towers...the USS Cole, the african embassies? Somalia when your soliders bodies were dragged through the streets? They have been ignited for years, but were ignored for 8 of those years by Bill Clinton!

You enable abortion in the name of choice...you advocate it. If it went to ballot, you would vote for it. That is advocating it, no matter how you try to parse words.

Why is it easier to get incensed about war than about abortion? Do you think those infants want to be killed? Do they not have a right to life? Where is their choice?
Why the spelling police have shown up! sm
I make typos all the time and so does everyone else. 
Call off the typo police.
nm
spoken by the grammar police.
xx
Your point? Are you the spell police? nm
.
Oh no...the swearing police are back.
.
And who appointed you the "Posting Police?" sm
Everybody is entitled to an opinion just as you are. You should be able to get a pretty good idea of what the posts will say from the subject line. If you are so thin-skinned that you have to take offense at somebody elses posting, then either leave the board and go elsewhere or just don't open the thread. Easy as that.
Humor police in the house....(sm)

The intent of the post was not to compare an embryo to a turkey, but rather simply a joke saying that she would take up one cause but not the other.  If you read the posts below you might understand the joke.


However, since you mentioned it, I'm sure I could make that comparrison.  Our ideas of when life begins are obviously not the same.


 


Police Memorial Week
Still another example of a President to be ashamed of. He is the First President to show such disrespect!
 
Hello everyone,
  
May 10-16 was Police Memorial Week.   It is a week to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving as a law enforcement officer in the United States
.  The week is filled with various events to honor fallen police officers and their families.To provide you with Just a little background,  May 15 was established by President John Kennedy as "Peace Officers Memorial Day" and the calendar week of May 15 is known as "Police Week" according to presidential proclamation 537. 
 
     http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=24099
 
The point of this email is to inform you of something I believe everyone should be aware of. President Barrack Obama did not attend this event. This may seem insignificant, but every year for at the past 21 years the president, regardless of political affiliation, has given a speech on May 15 on the steps of the
U.S. capitol to the family members of fallen hero's.

I am sure the president has more pressing issues to focus on than attending a ceremony for the widows, parents, and children of fallen police officers. It is understandable he may have needed to miss the ceremony for a more urgent matter and I say that with all seriousness. But, at the time of the ceremony where do you think Barrack Obama was? He was giving a tour of the White House to the 2008 world series champion Philadelphia Phillie's. I know the Phillie's are important and all, but the man could not take 30 minutes out of his day to take a short car ride 10 minutes down Pennsylvania Ave. to the Capitol, give a 10 minute speech and then drive back to the Whitehouse?
 
This is not a political issue and has nothing to do with being a democrat, republican, green party, independent, or whatever other political affiliation you may have chosen. This is about honoring fallen officers and paying your respects. It is obvious we know where Barrack Obama stands when it comes to supporting your local, state, and federal law enforcement officers.
 
I feel everyone should know what occurred on
May 15, 2009. You will probably not hear this in the mainstream media so I would encourage you to share this with anyone and everyone you want. 

Police Memorial Week
Still another example of a President to be ashamed of. He is the First President to show such disrespect!
 
Hello everyone,
  
May 10-16 was Police Memorial Week.   It is a week to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving as a law enforcement officer in the United States
.  The week is filled with various events to honor fallen police officers and their families.To provide you with Just a little background,  May 15 was established by President John Kennedy as "Peace Officers Memorial Day" and the calendar week of May 15 is known as "Police Week" according to presidential proclamation 537. 
 
     http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=24099
 
The point of this email is to inform you of something I believe everyone should be aware of. President Barrack Obama did not attend this event. This may seem insignificant, but every year for at the past 21 years the president, regardless of political affiliation, has given a speech on May 15 on the steps of the
U.S. capitol to the family members of fallen hero's.

I am sure the president has more pressing issues to focus on than attending a ceremony for the widows, parents, and children of fallen police officers. It is understandable he may have needed to miss the ceremony for a more urgent matter and I say that with all seriousness. But, at the time of the ceremony where do you think Barrack Obama was? He was giving a tour of the White House to the 2008 world series champion Philadelphia Phillie's. I know the Phillie's are important and all, but the man could not take 30 minutes out of his day to take a short car ride 10 minutes down Pennsylvania Ave. to the Capitol, give a 10 minute speech and then drive back to the Whitehouse?
 
This is not a political issue and has nothing to do with being a democrat, republican, green party, independent, or whatever other political affiliation you may have chosen. This is about honoring fallen officers and paying your respects. It is obvious we know where Barrack Obama stands when it comes to supporting your local, state, and federal law enforcement officers.
 
I feel everyone should know what occurred on
May 15, 2009. You will probably not hear this in the mainstream media so I would encourage you to share this with anyone and everyone you want. 

Aha! SPELLING POLICE starts again!
This is a sign that you feel in the weaker position. It was a TYPO, o.k.!

Everone who starts with grammar and spelling police, insults and bashing admits that he has been cornered and his weakness shows.

Playing grammar- and spelling-police is NOT tolerated on this Forum, read the rules of this forum!

Got it!


Iraq: Insurgents infiltrate police

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Insurgents have infiltrated Iraq's security forces, a senior Iraqi official said, as the fallout continued over British forces' use of armed vehicles to smash their way into a police station to rescue two undercover soldiers.


The British government said it would not pull troops out of Iraq after the fury over the controversial rescue of two special forces soldiers arrested in Basra and allegedly handed over to local militia.


Two Iraqis died in the violence, Reuters reported.


Iraq's National Security Adviser, Dr Mouwafak al-Rubaie, said he did not know how far security forces had been undermined by insurgents.


He told the BBC: Our Iraqi security forces in general, police in particular, in many parts of Iraq, I have to admit, have been penetrated by some of the insurgents, some of the terrorists as well.


I can't deny this. We are putting in place a very scrupulous, very meticulous vetting procedure in the process of recruiting a new batch of police and Iraqi army, which will, if you like, clean our security forces as well as stop any penetration in future from the insurgents and terrorists.


Al-Rubaie added: I can't give you a percentage of the extent of the penetration, but I have to admit that the Iraqi security forces are penetrated, to what extent I don't know.


Meanwhile U.S. officials revealed that nine Americans, including five soldiers, were killed by bombs in Iraq during Monday and Tuesday.


Four troops, assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, were killed Monday in Ramadi, the U.S. military said. The deaths brought to 1,904 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq. (Full story)


In Basra Wednesday the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior said it was looking into what led to UK armored fighting vehicles bulldozing the wall of a Basra police station jail in a bid to free the special forces soldiers.


Inside, troops discovered that the two men had been handed over to the militia by Iraqi police and freed them.


The men's capture Monday came just a day after British forces in Basra arrested two leading members of the outlawed Mahdi Army which is loyal to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and is widely believed to have heavily infiltrated the local Iraqi police, the UK's Press Association reported.


The two arrested men from the Mahdi Army were the group's Basra area commander, Sheikh Ahmad Majid al-Fartusi, and his aide Sajjat al-Basri, PA said.


According to PA, the two British men detained by police were members of the Special Air Service and appeared to have been quickly handed over to militiamen by police.


The mission to rescue them, which was condemned by many Iraqis, was launched amid fears they could face summary execution, PA said.


One Iraqi member of parliament said that following the arrest of the SAS men, the Mahdi Army had tried to take them hostage to exchange them for its two leaders.


Four tanks invaded the area. A tank cannon struck a room where a policeman was praying, policeman Abbas Hassan told Reuters.


Standing next to mangled cars outside the police station and jail that he said were crushed by British military vehicles, he added: This is terrorism. All we had was rifles.


A spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said the British operation against the jail had been a very unfortunate development but his office later released a statement saying there was no crisis in relations with the British.


Iraqi policemen at the jail Tuesday surveyed a mass of rubble, broken plywood and air conditioning units where their perimeter wall and a number of prefabricated structures once stood.


A number of flattened cars appeared to have been run over by British Warrior armored fighting vehicles.


The two special forces soldiers, who were travelling undercover, were arrested after allegedly becoming involved in a firefight with Iraqi police at a checkpoint. Iraqi officials claimed they had shot dead a local policeman and wounded at least one other.


The British soldiers are believed to have feared the men were really insurgents dressed in police uniforms, PA said.


British Defence Secretary John Reid defended the subsequent action by British troops against the Jamiat police station jail, saying it was absolutely right.


We do not have designs to stay (in Iraq) as an occupying imperial power. Nor are we going to cut and run because of terrorists, Reid was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph newspaper.


The paper said that Reid and British defense chiefs would meet Iraqi PM al-Jaafari Wednesday in London to discuss security issues.


In dramatic scenes outside the jail Monday, British troops were confronted by an angry mob, hundreds strong, throwing stones and petrol bombs and several soldiers suffered minor injuries.


After they discovered the two SAS men were not in the jail, Iraqi police were confronted with a 30mm cannon and revealed they had been given to the militia.


Brigadier John Lorimer, commanding officer of 12 Mechanised Brigade in Basra, said: We will be following up with the authorities in Basra why the soldiers were not immediately handed over to the multinational forces as Iraqi law shows that they should have been.


It is of deep concern that British soldiers held by the police should then end up being held by militia, he added.


ROFL. Enter the typo police....
at least you found a different subject to attack on. Still snide, but nevertheless...attack, attack, attack. I look forward to your report on all the other posts and then posting our QA scores. Hop to it! LOL. geezzzzz.
St. Paul Police Protest the Press

Be careful of your constitutional rights - they are rapidly disappearing.


http://www.truthout.org/article/st-pauls-police-protest-press


hope there are no spelling police today...
good thing I am not running for president, huh? But then, hmmm, maybe I could too. Seems like just anybody these days can do it.
Who made you the spell police? - see message
You don't have anything to say cos you know she's right so you come back with a "you spelled a word wrong"?????

We've been told over and over and over....leave your QAing out of this board.
Spelling police not allowed on this board.
.
Michigan Police Officer's Take on Obama...
This was forwarded to me by a boyhood friend who is a retired cop.

Please pass this along to everyone that you have on your e-mail list because this is just the beginning if this arrogant, egotistical, super liberal, president wannabe gets into office....

To all,

I have read all of the emails from not only some of the MTOA board members, but from other Law Enforcement & Military personnel about Barack Obama's rudeness and what seems to be disgust for basically anyone in uniform. Well, it's my turn to add to the list of emailers and here it is:

So members of the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department, Michigan State Police, (me included) and other local agencies inside Calhoun County are working with Secret Service in the security of Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama's bus arrives in Battle Creek and pulls into the stadium area. Before Mr. Obama exits the bus, he has the Secret Service get off and tell all Law Enforcement personnel in uniform that they now have to stand behind the bus so Mr. Obama is not seen with anyone in a Law Enforcement uniform before he gets off or while in the public view. So, everyone from Michigan State Police, Sheriff's Departments and other agencies look at each other for a brief second, go and stand behind the bus out of sight so Mr. Obama does not have to see, or been seen with, what to him is 'undesirables' since he refuses to been seen or even acknowledge Military or Law Enforcement personnel in uniform. And he wants to be our commander-in-chief!


At a time of war and terrorism in our world, this presidential candidate who is being protected by various branches of the military & law enforcement at the tax payers expense, refuses to acknowledge, be seen with, have in his photographed background, any type of Military or Law Enforcement in uniform.

But this is not in the headlines or in the news or on TV. The TV news doesn't show us marching around behind the bus. In the future, look and see if you can see a single soldier or police officer in uniform when you see Obama. Why? I wonder what the story or media frenzy would be if it was Muslims, blacks, whites, Jews, or any other race, gender, religion, and/or occupation, that Mr. Obama refused to be seen with or have around him.

Why would I make this up? Everyone in Law Enforcement knows we have traditionally had more funding under Democrats.

Just food for thought leading up to November 4th.

Jason Kern
Michigan Tactical Officer's Association
Michigan State Police

Executive Board Member