Jihad needs scientists
in [Design]
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From: lucasea on 17 Oct 2006 23:47 "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message news:45355C57.28A8837D(a)earthlink.net... > > The one where someone is > reported to have fired at the National Guard Now *there's* a nice little bit of revisionist history. > The national Guard is made up of well > trained soldiers Not especially, not then. As I understand it, John Fields got it right when he pointed out that they were mostly kids of roughly the same age as the students, many of them ROTC graduates, and green as hell. > The thing that surprised me was that the riots went on for so long > before it happened. At least a year before Kent State I was telling > people it was going to happen, and it would stop the riots, but no one > believed me. Those were bad times. A very vocal minority hated our participation in Vietnam, and were frustrated that those in power just didn't understand the ethical problems of other US kids, i.e., their friends and brothers, being killed in a country that had never done a damn thing to us, and where we had no clear ethical reason to be in the fight. Eric Lucas
From: lucasea on 17 Oct 2006 23:50 "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message news:45356037.5C0BD56(a)earthlink.net... > lucasea(a)sbcglobal.net wrote: >> >> Not in churches, they're not. As a musician in a group that happens to >> play >> for church services a lot, I've been to services of quite a few >> denominations...and many of them preach politics from the pulpit, to the >> extent of telling their congregation for whom they should vote. That is >> a >> big problem, in my book. > > > Then you are a hypocrite for performing at those churches if you know > their views. If you don't know and perform there, you should tell them > why you won't be back. Why do you equate playing music for an organization as endorsing their political actions? I enjoy playing music, and I get a great deal of joy out of sharing that music with others. I don't particularly care about the politics or ethics of those I play for...and I'm sure they don't care about mine. Eric Lucas
From: John Larkin on 17 Oct 2006 23:57 On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:07:18 GMT, Jonathan Kirwan <jkirwan(a)easystreet.com> wrote: >>>They are prohibited by law from engaging in politics, and >>> that's reasonably well enforced. >> >>Not in churches, they're not. Churches may not donate money or substantial resources to political candidates. Would you have a prohibition against members of a congregation discussing politics? How about members of the Sierra Club? The NRA? The ACLU? MADD? There have been some recent legal actions against churches that have broken the no-politics rules, and against some secular nonprofits, too. > As a musician in a group that happens to play >>for church services a lot, I've been to services of quite a few >>denominations...and many of them preach politics from the pulpit, to the >>extent of telling their congregation for whom they should vote. That is a >>big problem, in my book. Of course it is; you don't want their candidates to win. John
From: Eeyore on 18 Oct 2006 00:11 John Larkin wrote: > On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:07:18 GMT, Jonathan Kirwan > <jkirwan(a)easystreet.com> wrote: > > > As a musician in a group that happens to play > >>for church services a lot, I've been to services of quite a few > >>denominations...and many of them preach politics from the pulpit, to the > >>extent of telling their congregation for whom they should vote. That is a > >>big problem, in my book. > > Of course it is; you don't want their candidates to win. *Their* candidates ? How long before the USA has religious political parties ? Are to become the New Iran ? Graham
From: John Larkin on 18 Oct 2006 00:11
On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 19:23:05 +0100, "T Wake" <usenet.es7at(a)gishpuppy.com> wrote: > >Good point and fair cop. Although the debate was about America as an entity >so there is still some validity in the terminology used. I am not trying to >say "everyone in Azerbaijan hates America" or anything along those lines. It >is simply the case that the "general opinions" as made available by popular >media, news and political debate is that the populations of most countries >have a low opinion of the US as an entity (not of Americans per se) and of >US actions on a global scale. > >This is strange as the US does so much good. People can either accept the >low opinion and ask why this skewed perspective exists or dismiss it and >carry on as normal. > The US is rich and powerful. That alone creates a lot of resentment. If I were poor and opressed and hungry, of course I'd tend to resent people who spend more maintaining their swimming pool than it would take to feed my village. And they have a point. They might dislike europeans or Australians as well, but the US has become the cultural symbol for material excess and hedonism. Part of the dislike for Americans is for what we do, but I sense it's more for what we are, and for what we *can* do. Some people, perhaps a minority, look at the US and don't resent us, they say "Cool, I want to be like that too." And some of them emigrate here, and do it. Some of them stay home and do it. Different temperaments. I have a friend that I met in Russia, and I invited him to visit me here, which he did, and now *he* has a swimming pool behind his big house in Sacramento, and I still don't. John |