Tired_Old_Man

Either way it is the permission of the adult that makes it legal. And if they had sex before, the man could be charged with rape. But my point is still valid. Children can not make informed concent.

Defense is an over-used over-emotional word. Any country with a military has either a Defense Department, Department of Defense, Ministry of Defense or some other euphemism wrapped around the word "Defense". 95% of the USA's expenditures on Defense are for Offensive weapons. In 2003 the USA invaded a country the size of California (both area and population wise) that is half way around the world "for Defense". There are no countries chomping at the bit to overrun our shores. The Muslim Fanatics that attacked us on 911 where like all terrorists. They just wanted to get our intention and to put some fear into us so we might adjust some of our international policies. They have no intention or ability to take over the USA. They are not like Nazi Germany. If we were honest, we would call the Defense Department; the "Ministry of Aggression". But then it might be harder to get weapons systems approved in congress. The US public would not want to hear, "we need this weapons system to be able to start wars against..."

I generally agree that a person must accept responsibility for his actions, however there have been surveys that prove that hardly any adults take up smoking for the first time. We would not legally allow a 13 year old girl to have sex with a 25 year old man even if she wants to because we know that a 13 year old can not form an informed consent to have sex. So we do not hold her responsible for her actions, but we do hold the adult responsible if he has sex with the child. Analogously, we should not hold a 13 year old girl (or boy) responsible for taking up smoking. We need to put as many legal obstacles in the path to smoking. The cigarette manufacturers feign innocence of underage smoking, but they fight laws to make it harder to stop children from taking up smoking. They lower the price of the brands that most teens smoke while leaving the price of the brands that teens do not smoke unchanged. As I said earlier, “When I was an aircraft mechanic, I used chemicals which have since been found to cause cancer. They were removed by law from the workplace. Why should cigarettes be any different?” If we were talking about a non-poisonous product, personal responsibility might be an easy issue to discuss, but in this case, allowing people to poison themselves is a much more difficult issue. Do we have a right or obligation to intervene when people are trying to kill themselves? Cigarettes and food are ranked as the two most prolific items that kill us. There is a difference though. Food is necessary for life. It is only the abuse of food which kills us. Cigarettes are only necessary for the profits of the cigarette manufacturers.

Twisting scripture? Adam was a fully developed man before God breathed life into him and until Adam took his first breath he was not considered a man nor did he have a soul. Why should a fetus be any different from Adam in God's eyes before it becomes a baby and takes it's first breath? Is a fetus growing in a women's womb any more of a miracle than God taking dust and creating a man? Yes, the man (Adam) was dead and soul-less at first, but that first breath brought humanity and a soul to Adam. Is an embryo more of a human than the body of Adam before God breathed life into it? Does an embryo have a soul because a lab technician forced a microscopic sperm cell through the shell of a microscopic egg? Or does it take God to put a soul into that embryo? Would God go around putting souls into every embryo that technicians fertilize at every lab in the world? Or would he have the infinite patience to wait until the embryo is implanted, becomes a fetus and finally is born as a human baby? My money goes on God being intelligent and patient enough to save his precious souls for implanting into babies who are born. Not into embryos or even babies who will be aborted or still born. What would God do with a still born baby or an aborted fetus or a 16 cell embryo? Would God send them to Hell? Would God allow them into Heaven? Would God reuse that soul in another body? “Who are we to question God's ways" some might say. I say, "don't question God's ways, just read Genesis 2.7 and see that God only placed a soul (and simultaneously life) into Adam upon Adam's first breath". If my interpretation of scripture is twisted, where is scripture that contradicts my interpretation of "Genesis 2.7"?

When I was an aircraft mechanic, I used chemicals which have since been found to cause cancer. They were removed by law from the workplace. Why should cigarettes be any different?

-uh? Do you want to play 20 questions?

The problem is that there are a lot of good middle of the road sensible Christians who are being mislead by politically active televangilists and local clergy who use these issues to build a blind following. I have yet to see anyone quote Jesus or God (or Allah for that matter) to refute my biblical reference to when life begins. Too many good Christians are led around by peer pressure and by men in the pulpit who pretend to be Godly, but are actually as worldly as a CEO of any Forbes 500 company.

Isn't it funny that the conservatives and Neo-Cons want the UN dismantled (or at least removed from US soil), yet use it to their advantage when an excuse is needed for an invasion by the USA or for destruction of a country's infrastructure and populace as was done by Israel against Lebanon? As far as Powell's UN speech. I believe Powell is the ultimate team player. He argued against war in Iraq, but with Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Pearl, et all, egging BuSh on to glory, the BuSh decision was a fait accompli. BuSh then ordered the "good soldier" to make His (BuSh's) case before the UN and "the General" did what he was told, putting his heart and soul into it.

Cheney and BuSh are probably both good shots, but they are deathly afraid of being a target for anything that could shoot back. Notice their sparkling military avoidance records. No. They weren't elegable back then. Besides Barbara BuSh wouldn't want to get her cookie baking hands dirty.:girl_hug:

Christian Fundamentists blame the USA's Liberals for a loss of traditional values in the USA. - For Fundamentalist Christians, the USA's Liberal lifestyle is a symbol of moral decay. They see the USA's Liberal lifestyle as responsible for a decline in traditional values and lifestyles. Fundamentalist Christians see the American Liberal lifestyle as a dangerous competitor for the hearts and minds of Christians. - Fundamentalist Christians view the technologically advanced and secular lifestyle in the United States as a dangerous temptation for Christians and that it will lead them away from Fundamentalist Christian values. Fundamentalist Christians believe that they are dominated by the West coast and East coast of the United States. - What is truly evil and unacceptable [to the Fundamentalist Christian] is the domination of secular Liberals over true believers.

I feel that to say that something is sensitive and should not be talked about, but then to allow people to run other people's lives because of some notion of theirs which is contradicted by the same book that the controllers quote in order to control other people's lives is perpetuating the control by the controllers. So I will discuss it. I dare anyone to show me where God, Jesus, Allah or any other God of a major religion is against stem cell research, or for protecting the "life" of a 16 cell embryo in a petri dish.

I was against the war in Iraq a year before it started and I stated so on the forums where I spent my time back then and I also stated that Saddam did not have WMD nor did he have anything to do with 911. I was called vile names and treated with a lot less respect than I have seen any of the members here at LBT get for being pro-BuSh. I was proven right and George W. BuSh and Tony Blair were proven wrong. It remains to be seen whether BuSh and Blair were wrong or lying. Anyone reading reports available to the public could have, would and should have known that BuSh and Blair were wrong or lying about their reasons for invading Iraq. It was the willingness of the USA public to blindly follow their leader, the cowardice of most Democrats to avoid being seen as weak on security or terrorism, and the failure of the US media to investigate to any debt, that caused the invasion of Iraq as much as it was BuSh and Blair. The British public (by a poll of over 80%) believed that BuSh and Blair were wrong or lying before the invasion of Iraq. The average US citizen was willing to sell his soul to be protected from the bogeyman. BuSh's advisors told BuSh that Hussein had nothing to do with 911 and had no WMD, but he told them to go back and look again. It doesn't take a genius to know what your boss needs to hear in order for you to keep your job. George Tenent was no genius and finally told BuSh what he wanted to hear (although the CIA reports said different). Richard Clark and Paul O'Neil, men of more integrity left the BuSh Cabinet (along with others) rather than tell BuSh what he wanted to hear. Reading about what went on it the White House does not mean that you are a conspiracy nut. It was all there, including former ambassador Joseph Wilson's report that Nigeria was not selling Uranium to Iraq. I am not a conspiracy nut. I just keep myself informed and have learned to read between the (official government) lines.

The Biblical Case for Being Pro-Choice and Funding Stem Cell Research Genesis 2.7 says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Fetuses and stem-cells, on the other hand are not breathing. And until they take their first breath, they would not be considered as being alive or having a soul as indicated by Genesis 2.7 or by the law in most states. When a baby is found dead and abandoned, the test for whether it is a homicide or a stillborn is to perform an autopsy and determine if the lungs have ever been inflated. No inflation equals no breathing equals no homicide. So, it would seem that Genesis 2.7, our legal code and I all agree on the point that Abortion and Stem Cell Research are not murder.

Let the Experienced Men go to Iraq and Snatch Victory from Defeat.

When the people at the execution taunted Saddam Hussein with Religious barbs they proved to much of the world and to much of Iraq that the execution was an act of political and religious revenge. Regrettably, Saddam Hussein showed the most restraint as the judge asked the others at the execution to stop the taunting to no avail. Many had hoped that Saddam Hussein would have whimpered and begged for mercy, but it was Saddam Hussein who acted like the human being and his executioners who acted as the monsters. It does not bode well for the future of Iraq that the Shiite majority looked so grotesque to the Sunni minority who they claim that they want to reconcile with. While Iraq may be 65% Shiite and 20% Sunni, according to most sources, including the US Library of Congress, approximately 85% of the world's Muslims are Sunni and only 15% are Shiites. The unsavory execution of Saddam Hussein may wind up being an invitation to the world's Sunni population to come to the aid of their Sunni brethren in Iraq. That would not be good for either the USA or the government now in power in Iraq.

The Greatest Generation With our nation at war, a war which divides us, it is easier to talk about another war and what has become to be known as our “Greatest Generation”, the US military personal who fought in World War Two. Some who read what I am about to write will read things that I am not writing; that the US military personal of World War Two were not heroes or that they did not do a great job. I will not write that and I do not believe it either, BUT what I do believe is that by giving our military personal so much credit as the “Greatest Generation”, we take that title away from the rest of the “Greatest Generation”, the people that stayed home. Yes, our military fought very well, but so did many on the opposite side of the line. Yes, our military was brave, but so were so many of the men on the opposite side. Many of the military personal that our brave military fought against actually believed that they were defending their country and their way of life, just as our boys did. Our military was vital to our winning the war, but there were other people who got very little credit for our victory; they were the men and women who produced the airplanes, tanks, small arms, bullets, cannons, uniforms, submarines, aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers and bombs, and the food supplies that were used by our fighting men and who also produced the merchant ships that got the supplies over to our military and our other allies. Occasionally, I have heard talk about the men who designed our tanks and planes and also about the men who were factory owners and managers who supplied our war effort as heroes, but in my opinion, the workers, particularly the women who had been housewives, homemakers, school teachers, etc., but who became the munitions manufacturers, airplane and ship builders that “Rosie the Riveter” became the symbol for were equally the heroes of WW11. Besides working long hours, they also sacrificed their living standards as many goods were rationed or where totally kept from commercial sales. That is why, while I do not want anything taken away from our military men who have become know as our “Greatest Generation”, I do feel that the men and women who stayed home and produced the never ending stream of supplies, be given equal recognition with the soldiers, sailors, pilots and marines who went to battle. Many can argue about the merits of any or all of the wars since WW11. Some can even debate how we became entangled in that war so far away from our shores, but in this time when only our people who are fighting in Iraq and their families are making sacrifices, I would like to point out that one of the differences between the great war of the mid 20th century and our first war of the 21st century is the level of sacrifice and participation by the general public of the USA. Let's extend our thanks not only to that quickly vanishing breed of WW11 soldiers for our freedom, but let's also thank those people that made those soldier's victory, the USA's victory and our freedom possible; the people who worked long hard hours with their hands to supply the military. And they did all those things while worrying about the lives of their brothers, husbands, fathers and boyfriends who were overseas and they had to keep going when the news was as bad as bad news could get about their loved ones. My hat goes off to all of the members of the “Greatest Generation”, both the men and women who went abroad, and the men and women who stayed home. I thank you all.

I would rather have our 3000 soldiers who died fighting in Iraq back alive as well as the uncountable number of Iraqi citizens back alive than knowing that Saddam is dead.

Is Saddam Dead? Or was it one of his "Doubles" possibly drugged into a near stupor?

Would you date a women who wouldn't go out with you until you hit the lottery? Note: Not a reply to anyone in particular

I think President Ford was the right man for the job at the terrible time when he took over the failed presidency. As President, he was a Republican, who was a decent human being first, an American next and a politician last. His pardon of Nixon, in retrospect was the right thing to do. This country need healing and he sacrificed his chance for re-election for the greater good. The USA needs a Ford clone right now. In fact, we could do well with a few hundred Ford clones right now, both Gerald's and Betty's. His wife, Betty changed the USA with her diseases; both of them. She was an inspiration to many women and quite a few men. I wish I could comfort her in some way. She deserves to be honored as a great first lady who continued to contribute after her husband left office. I doubt the USA would be in the terrible situation it is in now if a Gerald Ford was our president. Let's (those who believe in prayer) pray for him, his wife and the USA. We can all be thankful for Mr. Ford being around at the right time. It may have been an accident that he became president, but selecting Gerald Ford to replace Spiro Agnew was one Richard Nixon's most important legacies. May President Gerald Ford rest in peace and may his First Lady, Betty Ford feel comfort in the knowledge that her husband was respected and loved by Americans, both Republican and Democrat alike.

If you read the opening piece, you will see that there was no blame placed on anyone or any group. I offered a suggestion on how to do the Lord's work properly; By doing the Lord's work in proportion to the amount of time our Lord spent in the Bible discussing the things on his mind (in other words, his agenda). If you feel that my last sentence: "If you have never counted the verses, how do you know you are really doing the work that Jesus would want you to be doing?" is blaming anyone, may I ask how anyone would know what the Lord wants if they have no DIRECT knowledge of what HE wants? Listening to sermons from a politically active preacher is no substitute for reading the words of our Savior.

There is much Scientific Evidence that Jesus was Born on April 17th in the Year 6BC. Try a Google for even more Info: Jesus birth date April 17

Road-map for a Politically Active Christian: Doing the work that Jesus would have wanted. Something for Politically Active Christians to think about: Read the Bible and add up all the verses in which Jesus condemned Homosexual behavior. Read the Bible and add up all the verses in which Jesus condemned Abortion. Add the totals to get the number of verses in which Jesus condemned Homosexual behavior and Abortion. Then reread the Bible and add up all the verses in which Jesus asked that the poor be helped. Make a ratio of the number of verses in which Jesus asked that the poor be helped compared to the number of verses in which Jesus condemned Homosexual behavior and Abortion. Use your time in that same ratio when petitioning your government to act on what you believed Jesus would want. In other words, if Jesus condemned Homosexual behavior and Abortion in 15 verses and asked for the poor to be helped in 150 verses, then you should spend 10 times as much energy, time and effort on getting laws passes to help the poor as you spend on getting laws passed to outlaw abortion and gay marriage. If you have never counted the verses, how do you know you are really doing the work that Jesus would want you to be doing?

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays To all my Brothers and Sisters here at LPT. I have been away for quite a while. To any concerned about my health; Yes, I am fine, as is my wife and family. My wife and I made a deal. I had been spending too much time on the computer and she had wanted me to spend more time taking care of my chores. We will be married for 40 years next July and I had a choice to make; keep writing at LBT (and other forums) or take care of my wife, my wife's needs, my family and my marriage. I love you guys, but the choice was a "no brainer". I will be back some day to write some more of my words of wisdom or trash, depending on your point of view. To all those that PM'ed me concerned with my health or reasons for dropping off the planet; I thank you. May you all have a wonderful holiday season. For the Christians: Merry Christmas For the Jewish people: Happy Hanukah For everyone: Happy Holidays and HAPPY NEW YEAR

I received two E-mails today from a friend. This is the second one. After the E-mail is my Reply. ***************************************************** TOM: This might even be true This is TOO good! 5 million of our older Americans have not signed up yet for their Medicare, Part D, drug plan------they are old and confused. We are NOT going to grant them an extension. However, 12 million illegal aliens are in our country and we are going to allow them to stay, protest, procreate, receive support monies, attend schools, avoid paying income taxes, have our teachers take 300 hours of ESL(English as a Second Language) training at our expense, etc. WE MUST REALLY DISLIKE OUR OLD PEOPLE...... OR WE MUST REALLY LOVE TACOS!!! If it ticks you off, pass it on!! Don't forget to pay your taxes...... 12 million illegal aliens are depending on you! Dwain ******************************************************* My Reply: Dwain: You sent me 2 E-mails this morning. One was about Jesus and started with the message: "When Jesus died on the cross, he was thinking of you! If you are one of the 7% who will stand up for him, forward this with the Title 7%." The second one was this cute comparison of elderly people who are being abused by the Republican Medicare Rx program and Illegal Aliens. Read your Bible and you will find that Jesus talked about nothing more often than helping the poor. Yes, many of the elderly people (being abused by the Republican Medicare Rx program) are poor, but so are the "Illegal Aliens". Are they "Illegal" because they have broken laws other than trying to better their life and their family's life? Would Jesus condemn a man for crossing a border to feed his family? Wasn't Jesus an "Illegal Alien" as he crossed borders to teach his life's mission of forgiveness and COMPASSION? Yes, Jesus taught about COMPASSION. COMPASSION for the sick, COMPASSION for the elderly and mostly, COMPASSION for the poor. This e-mail does a great disservice to all that honer Jesus, especially those who use the name of Jesus at this time of year to Celebrate Christmas. What better gift could any of us give to Jesus than to share some COMPASSION with an Alien? They are aliens, yes, but they are only "Illegal Aliens" because they have walked across the borders established by man; not by Jesus, not by God. Show me where in the Bible that Jesus separated people by borders. Show me in the Bible where Jesus refused to heal or feed a sick or poor person because of borders. Yes, my tax money is helping aliens, but I do not have the powers of Jesus to heal and feed the sick and poor, except by my tax dollars and my COMPASSION for all of God's children. Just about all of these so-called Illegals are Christians. Let us as Christians, try to act as Christians toward our fellow Christian brothers. Let us refer to them as "Christian Aliens" or better yet, "Our Poor Christian Brothers and Sisters" and let us give them what Jesus would have given them: COMPASSION. It is easy to fall for these cutesy E-mails. We have to stop, think and realize that we are talking about people. I forgive all those who fall for these E-mails and I am sure that Jesus would also forgive anyone who falls for these E-mails. Our hearts must go out to the poor as we celebrate Christmas in the richest nation in the world. On Christmas day, 35,000 people will die world-wide of starvation. Very few will die of starvation in the USA. Isn't that a Christmas gift that you can be proud of sharing? TOM