Tired_Old_Man

Has anyone seen the TV spot that says that many seniors are now saving money on their Rx drugs and we should not tamper with the Medicare Rx program? They are already attacking the Medicare Rx Negotiation bill before the Senate gets it. How come Medicare negotiates doctor's fees for Medicare recipients? Let the lobbying begin!!

I agree. But Hillary for President and Obama for VP, might keep Hillary alive.

Not all Muslims go to Madrasas. Many of the Madrasas that do teach anti-Israeli and anti-USA philosophies are in countries that are our allies. Pakistan claims it does not have the money to build public schools that would stamp out the need for Madrasas. If the USA gave Pakistan the money it wastes in one week making enemies in Iraq, Pakistan could build non-indoctrinating public schools and shut down the Madrasas. The USA would then have been better off saving the money and bloodshed it wasted on the Illogical Illegal Iraqi Invasion and would be helping to make a better future for Pakistan, Pakistan's people and for itself. Why Saudi Arabia has Madrasas is beyond money, but why doesn't someone in the US government put pressure on the Saudis to crack down? Could it be that because Ronald Reagan killed all of Jimmy Carter's "Alternative Fuel" programs that the USA has no guts to insist that our allies help us? Can you spell O-I-L? The Geneva Conventions were written by countries who could afford conventional warfare, so they wrote the rules for themselves. However, the USA is supposed to be the (self-professed) guiding light and to use torture and other forms of human rights violations is a despicable chapter in our history. When Thomas Jefferson wrote "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" he didn't say, "that all men in uniforms are created equal" nor "that all men who are US citizens are created equal". President BuSh swore (at his inaugurations) to defend the Constitution of the United states of America. That includes: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". The Geneva Conventions must be acceptable to our constitutional guidelines to be ratified by the USA. That's what the fight in congress was all about last year.

When In Doubt, Start Another Civil War Why Bush is Selling Arms to Fatah By CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI There's one thing George Bush knows. You don't get to be the biggest arms merchant in the world by only selling arms to friends. If that were the case the only countries to which we'd sell arms would be countries like Great Britain and Canada and they're not going to buy enough to keep us in first place. And it's not Mr. Bush's fault that he doesn't know that there is a history in the United States of selling arms to people who have ended up using the arms against the United States. After all, it's hard enough for him to keep up with what's going on right now. If he knew history, he'd know that in the 1980s the United States sold Iran 12,000 anti-tank missiles, 235 Hawk missiles and 200 Phoenix air-to-air missiles costing more than $1 million each. He'd recall that when we thought Mr. bin Laden was our friend for trying to kick the Soviets out of Afghanistan (a country to which we are now bringing law and order in order to show the Russians how good old American know-how can get the job done) we provided him with stinger missiles. The ones bin Laden couldn't use he sold to Iran and got cash that has helped in his ongoing battle with his former arms supplier). Now Mr. Bush is arming the Palestinian organization known as Fatah. President Mahmoud Abbas is a member of the Fatah party and the president of the Palestinian Authority. He was elected in 2005 and until 2006 Fatah controlled the Palestinian Authority. Some parts of Fatah get along with Israel-sort of. In 2006 legislative elections were held. Hamas won and took control of parliament. Fatah cabinet members resigned and were replaced by Hamas members. Hamas does not get along with Israel. It wants it removed from the face of the earth. Since the elections, relations between Fatah and Hamas have been tense and often violent. The two groups have tried unsuccessfully to form a unity government and since that failed have resorted to shooting at one another in the streets. Mr. Bush is very concerned about the destabilizing effect a full-scale conflict between the two groups could have on the region. He fears it could turn into another Iraq. One way of dealing with the concern would be for him to initiate talks with the two groups and see if there is a way forward that would protect Israel's right to exist while at the same time eliminating the risk of civil war between Hamas and Fatah. That is impossible because the United States (and Israel for that matter) do not talk to groups that are dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Mr. Bush also doesn't talk to countries he doesn't like but that's another story. Ever creative, Mr. Bush has another plan. Sell arms. Mr. Bush is going to pour $86 million into the coffers of Fatah. That is more than the total of all the monies the United States has given the PLO since it was formed in 1994. None of this aid would be necessary if Fatah had not lost the 2006 election. The money will help it regain what it lost at the ballot box. Mr. Bush understands that kind of thinking since he had to go the Supreme Court to become president after losing at the ballot box. According to media reports in late December, with Israel's and the United States's approval, 2,000 AK-47s and two million bullets were transferred to Mr. Abbas's security forces, many of whom are loyal to Mr. Abbas and to Fatah. (Fatah's armed wing known as Al-Aqsa fighters are hostile to Israel and some Fatah folk have launched terrorist attacks against both the U.S and Israel but Mr. Bush hopes those people won't be given those weapons.) With $86 million it's a sure bet there will be lots more weapons heading Fatah's way. More arms is a sure fire way to bring peace to that region. There is, of course, always the chance that the arms being sold will eventually be used against the merchant (us) or even Israel. That is because there are people loyal to Fatah who dislike Israel. Bassam Eid, head of the Palestinian Rights Monitoring Group in East Jerusalem says the Fatah faction is not a moderate movement and that the infusion of cash will "double the number of thugs" in Fatah. Dennis Roth, a Middle East advisor to two administrations said: "The $86 million reflects the basic sense in the administration that the only way to change things is through confrontation." That is not surprising. Bullies are usually inarticulate and prefer a show of force to a show of brains, especially when not possessed of the latter. Mr. Bush is their poster child.

A Muslim Parrot Three Muslim sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. Getting back together, they discussed the gifts that they were able to give to their elderly mother. The first said, "I built a big house for our mother." The second said, "I sent her a Mercedes with a driver." The third said, "I've got you both beat. You know how Mom enjoys reading the Holy Qur'an and you know she can't see very well? I sent her a large brown parrot that can recite the entire Holy Qur'an. It took twenty Imams 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute $1,000,000 a year for twenty years but it was worth it. Mom just has to name the Surah and verse and the parrot will recite it." Soon thereafter, Mom sent out her letters of thanks. She wrote to the first son, "Omar, the house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house." She wrote to the second son, "Hussein, I am too old to travel. I stay home all the time, so I never use the Mercedes and the driver is SO rude." She wrote to the third son, "Dearest Mohammed, you were the only son to have the good sense to know what your mother likes. The chicken was delicious."

A Christian Parrot Three Christian sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. Getting back together, they discussed the gifts that they were able to give to their elderly mother. The first said, "I built a big house for our mother." The second said, "I sent her a Mercedes with a driver." The third said, "I've got you both beat. You know how Mom enjoys reading the Bible and you know she can't see very well? I sent her a large brown parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took twenty ministers 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute $1,000,000 a year for twenty years but it was worth it. Mom just has to name the chapter and verse and the parrot will recite it." Soon thereafter, Mom sent out her letters of thanks. She wrote to the first son, "Martin, the house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house." She wrote to the second son, "Mitchel, I am too old to travel. I stay home all the time, so I never use the Mercedes and the driver is SO rude." She wrote to the third son, "Dearest Michael, you were the only son to have the good sense to know what your mother likes. The chicken was delicious."

I posted earlier in this tread about a meeting I had with a group of Christians (we used to call them "Protestants") last year after my minister gave a guest sermon at a church before an interdenominational group representing about a dozen different denominations. I spoke to about 10 people as we were enjoying cake and coffee after the service. Each was of a different denomination and I don't believe any was a from a Messianic (I hope I spelled that correctly) church. Each of the 10 told me that his way of worshiping the "One and Only True God of the Bible" was the only way to enter the "Kingdom of Heaven". Each and everyone of them was just as sure as Reverend Cusano that only the people who worshiped in their denomination (or their way) would make it into Heaven and all the others would not. They were each also sure that neither my minister (nor me, of course) nor Jews, nor Roman Catholics would enter the "Kingdom of Heaven". In fact, I should not have said "Each and everyone of them was just as sure as Reverend Cusano that only the people who worshiped in their denomination (or their way) would make it into Heaven and all the others would not". I should have said "Each and everyone of them knew beyond any doubt as Reverend Cusano knows beyond any doubt that only the people who worshiped in their denomination (or their way) would make it into Heaven and all the others would not". And there is the crux of the problem. How can 10 people (actually 10 groups) all KNOW opposite things? Each claims it is his faith that makes him sure. But one does not need faith to be sure 1 + 1 is 2. When you know something, you do not need faith. When you have to have faith, you do not know. These people are all substituting the word "KNOW" for the phrase "sure because of (my) faith". I was raised in a mixed family of Roman Catholics and Pentecostals. I played, as a child with the child who became Jessica Hahn's minister (when she had the infamous affair with Jim Bakker). My grandparents were renowned at a dozen Pentecostal churches throughout Brooklyn, and Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island. Every Sunday, a different Pentecostal minister was invited to dinner and their trophy was converting me from Roman Catholic to Pentecostal so that they could save Sister Rose's and Brother Paul's grandson. I am no longer a Roman Catholic, but after being agnostic for many years, I now belong to a church that doesn't force one vision of God down our throats, but instead tries to stress the teachings of Jesus Christ. Trying to emulate Jesus instead of trying to emulate Constantine makes me a better person and I don't care if anyone says that I will go to Hell because I don't do it their way. At that meeting that I was writing of at the beginning of this post, my minister was speaking to a women during the post sermon cake and coffee session, and she became very belligerent about his sermon. She was annoyed because my minister said that Jesus wanted to help the poor, but she said that she would vote for congressmen who would keep her tax dollars out of programs like Medicaid and “Food Stamps” And she knew what Jesus said because she was also a Minister. Funny how many people can read the same bible and come away with totally different ideas. Maybe when Constantine had the bible canonized, the selection commission didn't do quite the job that many Christians think they did.

My wife has been visiting her mother in Brooklyn for the past two weeks and so, of course, I overdid it here at LBT. So I am going on a vacation (from posting) to catch up on the housework. I have been doing my share of the work, some of her share and have had to baby sit my 6 year old grand-daughter Brooklyn, but my wife is going to expect a lot more to be accomplished when she gets home Tuesday, so I had better get to work. I have to get in the shower to get ready for church, go to church and then come home to start laundry, dishes, etc. Bye. I will miss my many friends and even those that don't like my "w:rolleyes:rds of wisd:rolleyes:m".

Telling someone that you feel like you are in Sodom while here, saying that atheists came crawling out of the woodwork, and comparing some with "thieves, liars, murderers and yes, even bigots", sounds like assailing to me. The Anger of Jesus shown while money changers were desecrating a temple does not equate with your abusive innuendo while debating on-line.

At 1,200 Pounds, I doubt it. I wish this man the best of luck, but he will need more than a diet IMHO.

Did Jesus teach to respond to an aggressive manner with more aggression, or was "turning the other cheek" something made up by a religious zealot?

The "Holy Qur'an" does not challenge the existence of Jesus. The "Holy Qur'an" equates Moses, Noah and Jesus as people sent by God to teach the people of their time the constant rules of how God wants his children to behave. Martin Luther King Jr. also did that and led my example as all the others mentioned did. They were all great men, and their greatness did not depend on any of them being a Deity or a son of a Deity, although we are all sons (or daughters) of a Deity.

You will have to take my word for it, but I said in 2002, during the buildup to the Illogical Illegal Iraqi Invasion, that even if not one member of the US Military is killed in Iraq, the war would be wrong. Many Americans only want out becaus,e we are losing people (and money). It is better than being stubborn and wanting to stay, but wanting out for that reason is not morally defendable.

Just about everything we build is offesive. In ancient Rome, soldiers had swords for offense and shields for defense. Today, we build weapons for attacking, not defending. I am not placing blame on any particular US regime, I am placing the blame on all who since the cold-war allegedly ended have spent very little on learning Arabic, farce or much of anything else about Muslims or their history or culture. That was not the first in the chain of attacks and counter-attacks between the West and Muslims. It was not even a surprize attack. We had bombed them and Bin Laden had declared war on us many years earlier. It was part of an ongoing war that we never tried to mediate by talking with the countries of the Middle-East. [ When the USA bombs cities, there are hundreds of buildings destroyed, some of which are hospitals, restaurants, etc. [ We also station troops and/or support the restrictive governements that squash the freedom of their people. Sweden buys oil on the open market but does not prop up the government od Saudi Arabia. The price of oil dropped because Iraq and Iran got into a war with each other and to afford the war, they each sold much more than their OPEC quota of oil, driving the price down (and US inflation down which Reagan took credit for). The Iraq issue is not entirely oil, but mostly oil related. That was a rhetorical question to show that BuSh was full of BS about his need for Democracy in Iraq. It was an excuse. He knew there were no WMD, nor did Hussein have anything to do with 911, but he attacked anyway. As long as the USA has this air of being Jesus' chosen country, no matter who is president, we will not make allies in the UN. As long as we support Israel, no matter what policy they employ, we will have problems in the UN. We can not expect fairness when we are in the right, if we act unfairly when we are in the wrong. It is our attitude, not our people that much of the world hates.

Point #3 When writing a computer program, some programmers leave instructions in even after they have been found to be no longer valid. They put a special character at the start of each line of code that basically says, “Ignore this next instruction”. When updating (Microsoft) Windows, by removing old programs (applications) and replacing them with new programs (applications) or updated versions of the same programs, remnants of the old instructions are left in the “Registry” which is a data-base of instructions for making Windows work. There are also remnants left in the Registry when we make a mistake while installing a program, even after we uninstall that program. There are programs that we can download called “Registry Cleaners” that can remove all the unused and unneeded remnants of the old applications and old installations. If, however, Registry Cleaners are not used, a computer expert who specializes in the Windows Registry can analyze a registry and tell what programs have previously been installed and removed. Well, if God invented DNA, he apparently did not bother to invent a DNA Cleaner, because scientists who are experts on the Registry of life, DNA, can see the remnants of all the attempts of that DNA to program life. Just as the computer programmer leaves in steps which are no longer valid, and puts a special character at the start of each line of code that basically says, “Ignore this next instruction” the majority of DNA has coding which says, “Ignore this next instruction”. That is why the scientists find turned off instructions for webs between toes and finger, tails and many other things in human DNA. That is why some people have bunions, because the instruction for having an opposing thumb on their feet were not totally turned off. Those remnants also verify many of Darwin's predictions base on empirical observations. The theory of evolution is not perfect and is itself evolving, but the percentage of “guesses” that Darwin and advocates of his theory have been too high to have been guesses. It was science. If God made man in his own image, why did he leave all the instructions for other animals' parts in our DNA?

Point #2 The stars we see at night are billions of light years away. The light we see from star A which is 10 billion light years away was created 10 billion years ago. When astronomers see a star that is 15 billion light years away, explode, that explosion happened 15 billion years ago. How can the Heavens and Earth be only 6,000 years old if that explosion was 15 billion years ago? How do we know how far away the stars are? By scientific measurements. How do we know the measurement are correct? Because when we send satellites into space, they get to their intended destinations within seconds of the calculated time for the distance that was scientifically measured. If they got there too early, the computer could not have made the next course correction. By the way, I wrote this without any bashing, without going to any websites and without stretching any points.

Point #1 If there was Intelligent Design, why did the "Designer" not give his greatest work the best? The human eye is nowhere near the top of the list of eyes. Many animals see better than humans. Same goes for the human ear. Same goes for the ability to protect and hunt with smell. Why don't humans have SONAR or RADAR like whales and bats for guidance? Why don't humans have guidance systems like birds to navigate the planet? The human being is probably one of the weakest animals pound for pound of all the animals on the planet. I guess the Designer only cared about the brain. Is that why we call it "Intelligent Design"; because only intelligence was designed? If man was created in the image of God, why is he so defective? Wouldn't god have given the best of everything; eyes, ears, etc.? If man is created in God's image, is God also defective? Why did God have a penis? But more importantly, why did God have a nose? Does God need air? Where was the air? How does God breath in space? Why does God need eyes? Does not he have the ability to see what is invisible and what is in my heart and mind? Why does God have ears? Can't he hear what is in my mind? Why does God have a mouth? Can't he put words into my mind that no one else can hear? How would his voice be transmitted without air between Heaven and Earth? Does He need a mouth to eat? What does He eat? What did He eat before He created all the things that He would be able to eat? Before Genesis, I mean? My point is that if we are created in God's image, why did God have all these unneeded parts? Many might see this as mocking God. No, it is asking intelligent questions with the one thing that the Creationists or Intelligent Design advocates agree that humans have the best of; MY BRAIN. By the way, I wrote this without any bashing, without going to any websites and without stretching any points.

Then why didn't you tell them that no one is bashing anyone here? Can't they read that for themselves? No name calling, just honest debate.

Defend the USA. Do not build offensive weapons and claim that they are for defense. Talk to your friends, but talk to your enemies twice as much as your friends. You can not learn as much as you need to know about your enemies by spy satellites and electronic eavesdropping. You can not expect your enemies to learn to speak English to make it easier for you. Learn to speak the language of your enemies and their history and customs. In a nutshell, be ready for war, but expend more energy on deterring war. Even a rat will fight if cornered. Leave your enemies an out, so that they may thank you someday (even in secret) rather than having the choice of fighting to save face. Yes, there are terrorists in the world, but not all of them are Muslims and not all wear white sheets. Many are born in the USA (80% Christian) and wear body armor. We are just as much terrorists to the people we attack as they are terrorists to us. We must learn to see things from their point of view. The USA wants financial control of the world so that we can keep wasting commercial goods for the benefit of the major corporations. We (the government) value the almighty dollar more than we value life. Our enemies do not want our destruction. They want us our of their land and their business. We have no right to Middle-East oil. If Carter's alternate energy plans had not been killed by Reagan, we might not be fighting in the Middle-East right now. The US is militarily supporting some of the most restrictive governments in the world. When is BuSh going to demand that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Kuwait, and many more of our allies have fair and honest elections so that the people of those countries can be free (like the people of Iraq)? Our two face attitude about Democracy does not go unnoticed accept by the citizens of the USA. BTW, much of my complaints go back to just about every president and every administration since I was born. We let WW11 go to our heads. We cry about avoiding defeat, but we did not win in either Korea or Vietnam and the country is still here. Pride can be our biggest virtue or our worst enemy. BuSh just exacerbated the problem with his pre-emptive strike policy.

Many of the people on that list have been dead for 100's of years and although many of them were geniuses, they never had the scientific equipment available today. I would imagine that of all the billions of people that have ever lived, quite a long list of people supporting anything could be compiled.

But that was the line that the anti-evolutions were spouting then. Many years earlier, it was the "Earth is flat" and "Earth is the center of the Universe" or "Earth is the center of the solar system". Every time they are proved wrong by science they come out with a new distortion of the truth. First it was dinosaurs being rocks carved to look like bones and now its the great flood killed all the dinosaurs, but as usual the "Intelligent Design" or creationists or just plain "the Bible is word for word correct" advocates leave out little subtleties that most lay people don't know existed. Now Rick Warren is saying that God knew my DNA 6000 years ago when he was going through the events depicted in story of Genesis. Funny I never found the word DNA in the Bible. Some Christians believe that the Bible is not "word for word", but stories with metaphors. One day in God's view might be one or two billion years. God may have started the first spark of what became evolution, but to many Christians, to be around for 16 Billion years and to read the minds of 6 billion people all at once is not powerful enough for them, so they have to put all the knowledge of past, present and future in God, which takes away free will. If those people are right, then whatever I write here is God's choice, since He knew I would write this 6,000 years ago. And if he knew it 6,000 years ago, who am I to make him wrong? I am not that powerful.

Jack also forgot to mention that TWA flight 841 was destroyed by a bomb in the rear cargo compartment killing all 88 on board on 9-8-1974. There is also much evidence (though refuted by the US FBI and CIA) that TWA flight 800 was destroyed by missiles fired by the US Navy trying to stop a small air-craft piloted by a Muslim Extremist and filled with explosives from purposely colliding with the TWA 747 (7-17-1996). BUT When the USA positions itself as the Super Power of the world, it puts itself into a bad position, because it can not invade country after country, especially when the countries are 1/10th the size of the USA. GW BuSh did not understand this idea and he invaded Afghanistan with too few ground soldiers and too much B52 carpet bombing. That was a strategy blunder, but a legal move because the attacks were launched from Afghanistan, but then he invaded Iraq, which if you will notice is not on Jack's list. The amount of people killed because BuSh tried his "Pre-emptive" strategy is larger than all the other people killed on Jack's list combined. About the only thing that invading Iraq did was to pre-empt a chance at a peaceful resolution.

Good analogy except for one part. When he starts swatting the nest, it falls on someone else's head and he yells for others to fix things, while he sits back telling us how he is "the decider" and "Commander and Chief".

You made a mistake, but the person in question used innuendo rather that outright name calling. Comparing some of us to thieves, liars and murderers, saying that some of us crawl out of the woodworks and insinuating that being here compared to being in Sodom was not conducive to civil discourse and I have to admit, I was not civil at times which saddens me and makes me want to take a vacation (from posting).

And wasn't the tree that Adam got caught eating forbidden fruit from called the "Tree of Knowledge"?:faint: