>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker: Those are rights.

No, here again you throw things together either without thinking, or with intention to deceive. How can an organizational structure assemble? What you mean to say is that the people who use the organization have the right to assemble, or do the other things you mentioned. That does not imply any rights for the organization as an entity. It is lawful to restrain the activity of an organization, and its resources, in any way that courts or legislatures wish, this my not have been done, but it does not imply that the organization has a right.

501c entity doesn't have the right to exclude exclude membership, but you think a non-501c should be able to be exclusionary.

No, they both have a responsibility to deal fairly. Religious organizations are currently give more latitude, by legislative fiat, to exclude, but that is not particularly relevant, as the only reason we are even talking about it is that you threw them in an attempt to confuse the point.

The problem neo-libs

Do you know that neo-liberal already means something? It's not what you think, it's very much like neo-con.

As to your "point", you assert that "we" want selective application of the rules, and I, for one, do not. Anybody can stand up and answer questions however they want on a prime-time soft core porn show, and she did. She was neither jailed, nor arrested, nor beaten, nor fired. She got second place, she may have been penalized for her incoherent/disrespectful answer, but that is why they ask questions to JUDGE them.

Her only basis to claim "penalty" is that she did not win, which implies that the 48 other women who did not win are also being penalized for their answers, and they don't even get to milk it for a speaking tour/book deal.

Prejean makes the alarmingly common white/conservative/Christian assertion that nobody else has a right to speak against them because they are "exercising freedom of speech", this is absurd on its face. Having people say you are wrong or stupid is not a denial of freedom of speech, it's an exercise of freedom of speech. She is asking for a double standard, I see no indication that she is suffering from one.

Everyone knew about the pics...17 year old

More pics came out 2 hours before the trump press conference, and their is no indication that any of the pics are her at 17, that was just a ruse to try and get people to take them down because they might be technically "kiddie porn". If she misrepresented herself on the application for the pageant, which the organizers claim she did, that's grounds for termination. It's stupid for an organization built around T&A to penalize that, but they have a long history of doing it, so stop whining about selective application of the rules, letting her off is the exception.

Which ones?

Her bosses claim she was MIA for weeks, claiming to be "unable" to make appearances, while at the same time making appearances on Right wing Radio/TV to fan the flames, and doing so as Miss CA, which is a significant issue in itself.

How about you try not showing up to work for weeks, and see how "oppressed" you are as a result.

There is nothing bad about being wrong sometimes. But don't rhetorically flail around when you make a mistake.

That's the only sensible thing you have said, perhaps you should read it to yourself a few times...no offense (that makes it all okay)

I always found it hilarious that over the 8 years of Social Conservatism you had a whole sea of Republicans being outed as being morally depraved and at odds with their Conservative christian values.

>> ^RedSky:
This site obviously has a Democratic slant, but really is there any need to run self-indulging DNC ads through it too?

Short Answer: IMHO, Yes.

Slightly Less Short Answer: IMHO, Yes, BUT I could care less about the DNC as much I care to expose the hypocrisy and self-contradictory nature of the GOP and it's biggest representatives. The DNC just happen to contribute the most fodder towards that end.

Personally, it has been made relatively clear to me that the GOP seems to represent a large faction of people known to be lying, war-mongering, god-fearing, gun-toting, hateful, racist homophobes whose policies are dictated by rich old white men and an invisible man in the sky. And I will do my small part to make it plainly obvious to anyone that will watch my "raging liberal" videos, that the sooner this country is rid of the fundamentalist conservative christian rightwing nutjob mentality most evident in the GOP, the better this country will be.

That being said, I respect your opinion to disagree and fully encourage you to downvote if you find anything to be inaccurate, but preferably with factual data to backup your correction of the inaccuracies. Thx.

>> ^gwiz665:
Showing once again one of America's finest strengths: Saying one thing and doing something else.


At least US courts have consistently struck down creationism/ID from public school science curricula.

The OFBCI is another can of worms. Under Bush, the all of the religious organizations it funded were conservative Christian organizations. Any government funding of religious institutions with taxes is against the intentions of the authors of the Constitution and the First Amendment. When it goes to just one sect, the violation is even more flagrant.

>> ^Throbbin:
I'm still waiting to see Obama do an interview in a do-rag.


I really don't like Obama...but what the fuck is that supposed to mean?!? People here probably don't like because I'm a conservative Christian, but at least I'm not a racist douchebag.

i love all his false assumptions. i mean every liberal must be a communist atheist. and of course no atheist can have a set of moral beliefs, obviously. self-reliance and responsibility for one's own actions are for conservative christians alone. oh yeah, and a liberal christian... no such animal.

I once had a problem with two gay guys blowing each other on my lawn. Then one day I said, "Hey! You neo-conservative Christian Republicans go back to your Congress and leave my lawn alone!"

1. I hate memes.

2. I dated a girl because she owned a 69 Corvette Stingray.

3. I am teaching myself Trigonometry and Calculus.

4. I ate 30 packets of Smarties candy today.

5. My teeth hurt.

6. I really hate living in Boise, Idaho.

7. I refuse to move because I fear change.

8. I wrote a letter to President Clinton when I was 10 years old, asking him to make abortion illegal.

9. I've never been outside of the United States.

10. My roommate got me hooked on Sudoku.

11. I think of Timothy McVeigh as a war hero.

12. I am not racist against people who don't fit stereotypes.

13. I am an excelent speler.

14. I am a virgin.

15. I've never been to Virginia.

16. I am fascinated by the etymology of words.

17. I can say the alphabet backwards while drunk...flawlessly.

18. I am a boring person.

19. I love wearing Hawaiian shirts.

20. My first memory is of my neighbor's dog, Oscar, trying to bite my left index finger off. Apparently they don't like to be poked in the eye by a toddler.

21. I've never broken a bone.

22. I have been known to troll chat rooms disguised as an ultra-conservative Christian.

23. I have a picture of Jessica Tandy in my wallet...don't ask.

24. My seventh birthday party was at McDonald's. I haven't been back since then.

25. I am a vegetarian.

>> ^MarineGunrock:
>> ^gwiz665:
I get to show people something they might not have seen otherwise. I also get a direct reward in the form of star points and power points.
The Art of Sifting is that you get to "create" the framing of the video, you make the title, the tags and so on, this all has a direct influence on how a given thing sifts. Something can be hilarious, but if the title is bad, our nano-second attention spans flicker over it and miss the gem.
I suppose there is an underlying theme to what is sifted, but I don't think it's a persona as such. For some I presume the avatar is completely different than themselves, but my avatar is just a thin coat of veneer on myself. I'm pretty close to what I represent myself as here, and I think it's intellectually dishonest (not to mention douchebaggely) to do otherwise.
I do enjoy calling attention to obscure videos, but only if I like them. There are plenty of obscure stuff that I don't give two shits about.
CP420 and the rest of the conservative beacons call this place a liberal haven of atheists, but I don't see it that way. I think the IQ on this website exceeds most any other website, and that is the reason we are liberal and atheists; it's what smart people think. Stick that in your gun and shoot it.

So conservative Christians are just stupid huh?
So much for the "love everyone" policies that liberals claim to have.


Oh, she was pretty proud of what she posted...may as well let her be.

>> ^gwiz665:
I get to show people something they might not have seen otherwise. I also get a direct reward in the form of star points and power points.
The Art of Sifting is that you get to "create" the framing of the video, you make the title, the tags and so on, this all has a direct influence on how a given thing sifts. Something can be hilarious, but if the title is bad, our nano-second attention spans flicker over it and miss the gem.
I suppose there is an underlying theme to what is sifted, but I don't think it's a persona as such. For some I presume the avatar is completely different than themselves, but my avatar is just a thin coat of veneer on myself. I'm pretty close to what I represent myself as here, and I think it's intellectually dishonest (not to mention douchebaggely) to do otherwise.
I do enjoy calling attention to obscure videos, but only if I like them. There are plenty of obscure stuff that I don't give two shits about.
CP420 and the rest of the conservative beacons call this place a liberal haven of atheists, but I don't see it that way. I think the IQ on this website exceeds most any other website, and that is the reason we are liberal and atheists; it's what smart people think. Stick that in your gun and shoot it.


So conservative Christians are just stupid huh?
So much for the "love everyone" policies that liberals claim to have.

Huckabee is the real deal, which is rare among Republican evangelical conservatives these days. There have been a couple of instances in AR where he applied to state law legislation that irked 'conservative Christians' by caring for the poor and suffering. It was as if he had a brain and knew the right thing to do.

I'm trying to figure out your troll angle here.

Does a troll-angle have three sides? My right to comment is as valid as yours.

Are you saying that having faith in general is sacrosanct? I always took you for a conservative Christian, not a panentheist.

I am not a Christian; I believe Christianity is a legitimate pathway to God-Consciousness, as are many others.

I find it hypocritical to accuse only religion of influencing science while ignoring the politics that gave us junk science resulting in imaginary polar bear genocide, man-made global warming, and tobacco smoke that would have already killed most of the human race by now were it as lethal as claimed. What fueled the ban of DDT? Politically motivated junk science. Well, that self-righteous attitude and Rachel Carson's lies are now responsible for needless deaths in the millions from the resurgence of malaria. How often blind faith and modern junk science share the same toothbrush.

Atheism will never catch fire because humans are not logical, or robots.
Humans are creatures of imagination and emotion, and listening to Dawkins talk about DNA, while interesting, will never replace religious storytelling. I understand the beef with fundamentalists, but they are small in number in most religions.

Fraudbama is a perfect example of how the power of myth trumps logic. He's gotten this far appealing only to imagination (a bright future) and emotion (hope) with only vague hints and promises of what he'll do.

As a former atheist, I'm not asking anyone to convert. I'm (occasionally) requesting atheists to consider the utilitarian usefulness of faith, and lose the bigotry long enough to grudgingly admit religion's done more good than harm.

^ What would Jesus do? good point...

I don't understand how the conservative christian republicans condemn Obama considering sitting down with Hamas and Hezbollah.

Wouldn't Jesus have done the same thing?

James Dobson, of the conservative Christian group Focus On The Family, said in 2006 regarding the child of (lesbian couple) Mary Cheney and Heather Poe:

In raising these issues, Focus on the Family does not desire to harm or insult women such as Cheney and Poe. Rather, our conviction is that birth and adoption are the purview of married heterosexual couples. Traditional marriage is God's design for the family and is rooted in biblical truth. When that divine plan is implemented, children have the best opportunity to thrive. That's why public policy as it relates to families must be based not solely on the desires of adults but rather on the needs of children and what is best for society at large.

As Crosswords already stated, Sarah Palin was specifically chosen because of her appeal to conservative family values voters. Now I'm not saying her daughter deserves criticism; she should be left alone. However Ms. Palin's stance on family values SHOULD be brought into focus because of what happened to her daughter, because abstinence-only education has been a bust. In fact look at the teen pregnancy rates of all 50 states (from 2002), red vs. blue. Do you notice an alarming trend?

Again, I'm not saying that this girl deserves criticism. However Ms. Palin certainly deserves some, because it is policies that she endorses that leads to higher teen pregnancy rates.

Teen pregnancy isn't the end of the world. Many teens go on to become wonderful parents. However most all parents across the political spectrum want to reduce teen pregnancy for good reasons:

1. Most teens aren't ready, either financially or emotionally, to be full time mothers. The same goes for the fathers.
2. Most of us want our kids to at least have a chance to go to college after high school, that way they can hopefully get better-paying jobs with their degrees.
3. Most parents would prefer not see their teenage daughters get pregnant at all, rather than see them get abortions. Even most pro-choice people prefer that. And let's face it, teens of all backgrounds, liberal to conservative, get abortions. I'm not trying to stigmatize abortion. I am pro-choice, but I'd much rather see other forms of birth-control employed first.

In conclusion: Leave the girl alone, but grill the mom about why she believes abstinence-only is so great. After 8 years of faith-based initiatives ruining our educational system (and abstinence-only education is just the tip of the faith-based iceberg), it's time for us to push back.

[James Nichols from Bowling for Columbine]
Them people, law enforcement, if you want to call them that
were here and they were shaking in their shoes. They were physically
shaking, scared to death. Because certain people, said I'm a radical
I'm a wild man, I got a gun under every arm, if you say anything
I'll shoot you. If the people find out how they've been
ripped off, and enslaved, they will revolt with the blood
running in the streets.

Yo, Ticket to ride, the white crime, highway
Bring all the guns, the funds will come my way
Whether we deliverin' high grade
To the people in the pit of the tri-state
Or dabble in the hood like fly weights
Lock and load in the range with rock the globe
Made any aim possible
Til the leadbelly lost control
In the hold of the paper that fold
At one time was related to gold
Made many men lose their soul
To the price of the dice that roll
How can a light so bright make a man so cold?
So another man's plans unfold
Can you really see the truth til it happens to you
Its so severe what the hopeless will do

Ain't no pickin' your position to beginning your life
Not every man want to stand by his kids and his wife
Too many lost kids in the night
Hand on heat, grippin' it tight
Any man want beef could get it right
Followed by enough flame to put a permanent end
To the learning of men
Class session, too many the blast the last lesson
Often taught like the wars that are often fought
As old as mankind
Now outta his damn mind
Stand on the gunpowder landmine
Ready to blow at any second
I'm checking for the signs of the end
Of all-time, I figure its on time, my last thoughts forming the rhyme

Got me running through the streets
That reek of the dead, its more food to the wealthy
My niggaz on welfare, nobody givin' up healthcare
Nothing but heat, how you gonna tell me it ain't hell here?
George Bush having a swell year
Swingin' the gat, ready to clap, anything on the map
You done seen what they bring to Iraq
Now bring it back to the source, land of the physical force
Land of the gun, land of the gun, land of the gun, land of the gun!

This is the place where the cops rush in the building
Paramilitary death squads murder your children
Empty shell of a man rippin' shots in the air
Soldiers dying out there, but nobody cares
Prepare for the future but make note of the past
Or be condemned to live it again and get blast
Class warfare kept outta the news
Replaced by a corporation's political views
Cause this is where the guns are manufactured and sold
The land that was stolen stripped of all of its gold
Old timers on the death bed speakin' the wisdom
Immigrants crucified by conservative Christians
Now we all got freedom to die in the street
But the difference is more of us die in a week
Than they die in a year I made it clear
Where I stand when the line is drawn
But now the line is gone
And nigga anything goes
The land where the guns don't let anything grow
And what the fuck you niggaz know about living in hell
You not built like me you never lived in a cell
You never gambled with your soul
Fuck the ice on your hand, gun in your palm
But you got a niggaz life in your hand
Young man, just remember that slicing a gram
Is a bloody game, like throwin' mice in a fan
My words flow like the rivers thats west of Iran
The fertile crescent moon, with the star in the middle
I reveal the depth of history's scars when I scribble
I gave you the world, and I ain't even charged you a little
The martyr is crippled
The prophets are dead and buried, but the message is simple
And its not written down in holy books as a riddle

Now we running through the streets, starvin'
On that guerilla warfare
My people stuck in a guerilla warfare
Innocent children screamin' in tears
You actin' like the army ain't put hell here
Military industry havin' a swell year
Swinging a gat while lying in heaven
Living off a blank check after 9/11
But I'm have the truth brought back to the source
Fight for my land with physical force
Speak through music, the subliminal course
I need a tech and a clip, fuck a Jag and a Porsche
Land of the gun, land of the gun, land of the gun, land of the gun