http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051006/ts_alt_afp/mideastbritainusiraq_051006214432I’ve got so many great suggestions for new posts, but more good stuff keeps happening! Here’s a report that validated why we should all be scared of our president’s reliance on faith. Please note that the president’s faith is not important. As an American citizen, he is entitled to believe as he so chooses. It is when people die and/or we as a nation suffert fiscal damage BECAUSE of that faith that I worry. Bin Laden’s men executed the attacks on 9/11 because God told them to do so — should our President be acting the same way?In fairness, the White House has officially denied this conversation took place. It is up to us to decide who we think is lying, and why.
reluctant
A bad Peter Pan? ooooh…in-ter-est-ing!
Wicked, wicked thoughts…BAD Karen!
JC: sure, just bear in mind that I have a cadre of lawyers at my beck and call…No, just kidding!
Snippet? How long is a snippet? You may have noticed, I don’t do snippets too well, too much of a windbag.
karen: trust you me darlin’, everyone laughs when they hear it, but it’s not for the weak of heart (of course, I’d say that).
Pretty brutal in some parts.
I can hear someone saying “Shut up! Get back on topic!”, so better table this. LOL.
reluctantatheist,
Mail as much as you like. I love to read! That email address is extra, so there should be gigabytes of space available.
JC: I’ll just do the same thing I do w/publishers – send you the 1st 3 chapters, see if you want the rest.
Any and all input would be appreciated.
P.S, I can prove I wrote it 1st, you know, buddy! LAO, LOL!.
Fair enough.
I’ll be watching out for it. Thanks.
Karen
I voted in NC and you are correct there was only two names on the ballot. I voted Kerry. I dont think votes count much with this government though.
“Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything” Joseph Stalin
Apparently god was elected president in 1998 and reelected president in 2002.
God has shown, during the six years of his presidency, no fiscal responsibility with the federal budgets, I must say.
Sorry, it’s late and I can’t think: make that 2000 and 2004. I can ruin my own joke !
Natasha
We’ll chalk it up to wishful thinking. If the last election had been 2002, he’d almost be outta here.
Karen,
Yeah. Damn.
Unfortunately lots of Americans are comforted by the idea that god IS in the White House. And smart evil guys like Karl Rove knew about those people when they constructed W’s campaign. The bastards played the god card.
It’s so nice to visit a site that has intelligent and funny postings on it. Anyway, here are a few thoughts. Bush once said (and I am paraphrasing) that he didn’t see how anyone could be president without having a personal relationship with Jesus. That this blatant insult to millions of Americans went unreported is a prime example of how far we have fallen as a society. Our minimum qualifications for a presidential candidate are now simply to be a multi-millionaire, look good on TV, and excessively quote or reference the bible. That’s about it. Critical thinking skills? Nah! Don’t need ‘em. Pragmatism? Overrated. Don’t believe in God? Hang him!!
If any of you ever get the chance, read “The End of Faith” by Sam Harris. It accurately surmises the dire situation we, as people who embrace reason, find ourselves in today.
Reason..???? Let’s see if I can write an equation for that reason.
Nothing + Unlimited Time = Everything.
Does that about sum it up?
Brian: Sounds like a good book, but it seems from the reviews that I’ve read that he kicks off with some good points only to conclude that we need to embrace some kind of humanisitic spirituality (mysticism?) to make the right decisions. To me, religion and mysticism are one of the same.
Phreedm: ??? Your point is lost on me.
Well I’m an atheist, have been since I was 12 but if anyone takes as credible a story over a year old punted by the Palastinian authority………pleeeeeze, that has drowned out the most penetrating comments thus far made by GWB on the war against Islamo-fascism (missnamed the ‘war on terror’). A story that was quite probably interpreted twice English-Arabic then Arabic-English. Well I know who needs the critical thinking lesson.
There are main stream media types that are playing to a gallery and it seems the gallery is overly credulous.
Nick,
The (American) gallery is gullible. Childishly so.
Nick: could you extrapolate, please?
http://vocalatheist.blogspot.com
Even with the possiblity of mistranslation, it’s GWB we’re talking about. I wouldn’t put it past him to say God told him to.
Ack, apparently I’m link inept. Apologies
.
3E8,
Having read the book, I think the negative response by athiests in general to the part you refer to is somewhat unwarranted. He’s really not referring to anything supernatural or mystical. It’s more akin to meditation in that he’s discussing levels of awareness that are physiologically possible but not often attained. As an athiest, I got his point and it didn’t bother me. Anyway, even if that part of the book (the last chapter) bothers you, it doesn’t detract from the excellent points raised throughout the rest of the book.
Look at me. I meant to comment about our woeful excuse for a president and ended up doing a book review.
This is the guy who said he always asks himself “What would Jesus do?”
The mindset he has projected in public life is that of someone who always consults with God.
Hey check out what these folks mean when they say they are “born again”.
From what he has told us he could not invade without God’s approval. None of this is any suprise. We can add all those killed in Iraq to the long list of those slaughtered in the name of God.
atomictesting: “If you ever want to see the system fixed so that any number of candidates actually works, vote the way you want to vote.”
Outstanding! I’ve been saying this for years. I voted Kerry only because I desperately wanted the Shrub out of office.
Normally, I vote 3rd party out of protest.
Saw a West Wing episode, & Josh Lyman is going on and on at this lady, because her candidate was going to ‘take’ votes away.
She ended that w/this: “That’s the insane part about the argument. They’re NOT HIS VOTES.”
“We can add all those killed in Iraq to the long list of those slaughtered in the name of God.”
Tacked onto the tally of those killed on 9/11, you have yet another score of many, many millions of people killed in the name of the imaginary friend. Not even the tooth fairy has this much blood on her hands.
BrianinOhio: “He’s really not referring to anything supernatural or mystical. It’s more akin to meditation in that he’s discussing levels of awareness that are physiologically possible but not often attained. “
Couldn’t disagree more. Sorry. Long time Tai Chi and Qiqong practitioner here.
Here’s a great article at http://www.ctyme.com/bwash/bwash.htm#ff. It talks about Xtian revivalism, brainwashing techniques, etc. From the article – “If you spend an hour to an hour and a half a day in meditation, after a few weeks, there is a great probability that you will not return to full beta consciousness. You will remain in a fixed state of alpha for as long as you continue to meditate.”
A little further on, he states: “Some spiritual groups see this as nirvana–which is bullshit. It is simply a predictable physiological result.”
You should see the statistics for how many people vote for Mickey Mouse every year hahah.
atomictesting: Really? I vote for real people.
We have far too many invisible people invading our lives as is (in re: religion).
Besides, if MM DOES win, chances are we’ve just given Disney political power.
Hey, I’m serious.
Peach63: ‘I have followed cars around that have the little “W” FOR PRESIDENT! stickers on them until I am nauseous. I have a little “W” sticker too but mine has a slash through it.’
I saw an even better one the other day, it had a big “F” and “the President” below it. I was LOL in my car!
Bush’s alleged words remind me of two points.
1. Karl Marx wisely stated that religion was “opium of the masses.” He provided this point to the world as an acknowledgement of how necessary the role of religion was in politics, regardless of whether the leader actually believes in such nonsense. It is an effective tool to maniuplate the superstitious majority.
2. His outspoken father, who of couse handed down his superstitious beliefs to ‘W’ like a cheap, paperback fiction novel, stated that he was “not certain [atheists] should be considered Americans.” This was stated when I had completed about half of my 20 years of military service to the US as a devout atheist. Shame on them both!