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

I see that Green used past tense with reference to her snittery. For her own comfort, I hope her Omar the Tentmaker* drawers are all soft and wrinkle free.

*BJean has taken liberties with the size reference.

Looks like BJean has missed all the action. I'm off to read the thread. I need a few chuckles.

I see that Green used past tense with reference to her snittery. For her own comfort, I hope her Omar the Tentmaker* drawers are all soft and wrinkle free.

*BJean has taken liberties with the size reference.

Green is wildly amused and she wants to tell everyone who might care to know that her giant knickers are, like her bed sheets, one hundred percent cotton and have a high thread count.

This is the trade-off that comes with age: no synthetics, a current passport, high thread counts, and real jewellery. The downside makes for dreary reading.:cry

Just because I thought you guys might be interested, here is an interview with Richard Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion. He makes some interesting points.

http://richarddawkins.net/article,542,Atheist-Richard-Dawkins-on-The-God-Delusion,Terrence-McNally-AlterNet

Gee laurend, you've just pulled us back from our reverie. Dang 'cause I've been wildly amused by Green's antics too. Rather made my day in fact.

Just because I thought you guys might be interested, here is an interview with Richard Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion. He makes some interesting points.

http://richarddawkins.net/article,542,Atheist-Richard-Dawkins-on-The-God-Delusion,Terrence-McNally-AlterNet

Thanks for posting this, Laurend. The gang over at this atheist website where I hang out are reading his book and are big fans of him. They are also fans of Sam Harris. I haven't read either author yet though I really should.

BJean, Green is always pleased to amuse. (Deep down she is very shallow, you know. ) I guess by now you have seen my poor anger management skills displayed over at the other thread, eh?

Green: I stayed up too late last night reading that thread. Like a nut, I allowed myself to get pulled into the fray. The dude isn't seriously trying to win anyone over to Jesus. He's wanting a fight. The dirtier the better. It's a colossal waste of time, but even so, that can be fun. With him, it just is not fun. Some people don't play fair when their arguments are stale or weak. He, like a couple of others I've noticed, when defending lame posts goes on the attack and accuses others of the very thing he is guilty of. That is frustrating when there is a time lapse between posts. So I wish everyone would ignore him and if he jumps in anywhere else, they continue to ignore him. It would teach him the meaning of the word frustration. (Only one of the words he needs to learn, others being grace, dignity, love, respect, tenderness, empathy, warmth, and did I mention respect?)

P.S. Your "shallow" stabs at humor and your "poor anger management skills" are exactly what I like about you!

Grrl, you are so right! But I regret that I couldn't resist going over there again for another cat fight this PM. And catfight it is! We have just taken in a small stray who is happy to be here but who cannot resist brawling with our large and peaceful neutered tom. The stray is a tiny female who is gonna get neutered in due course. Her name is now Little Orange - she is orange and white. Just call me Big Green, eh.:paranoid

LOL. A little kitty lookin' to get fixed. Nice. I read your post tonight. I liked it. I don't think we're dealing with an intellect much higher than a stump, but I guess if it's something that needs to be done. a?

Tom, when I first started to read the email I thought you may have supported it. I'm so glad that you emailed you friend back with that response. I know we all pay for people who can't afford to pay for themselves, but we are of the human race. Thankfully, you agree.

T_O_M: I know you're vacationing from posting right now and I don't blame you. I keep telling myself I should do that. Things definitely went haywire for me at the Anti-Semitism thread. I don't know why my entire life that people who use religion and pomposity to put others down has always been an easy way to get me riled up. That is of course, the reason they do it, and the big pay off is staging an argument since they have spent so much time cultivating pious retorts and put-downs for their arsenal. I am disappointed in myself that I fell right into it.

That's not the primary reason I came here; but I wanted to explain myself a little to the people at LBT that I respect and you are on the top of that list.

As for this thread, I came across a T. Roosevelt quote from 1915 - that I believe is relevant today. For me, it explains one facet of what we were discussing here.

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all.

"This is just as true of the man who puts “native” before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.

"But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as any one else.

"The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English- Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian- Americans, or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality than with the other citizens of the American Republic.

"The men who do not become Americans and nothing else are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American."

Theodore Roosevelt

Addressing the Knights of Columbus in New York City

12 October 1915

I have posted a few times today.

I understand how people can lose their cool when someone is so cock sure of them self. I am not perfect either, in fact quite far from it.

I am not an alcoholic, but I have gone to "12 step" meetings and all I can say is to try to do right one day at a time. If you are having trouble being good one day, then try to be good for one hour. If that is too difficult, then try one minute. If all else fails, walk away for a while. "Time out" works good for adults, too.

Another "12 step" lesson is that when you do fail, get right back on the wagon. This process is important whether we are talking about alcohol, drugs, eating, codependency, brutality (verbal or physical) or anything else that they have programs for (or even for things we need to control that they have no programs for).

You are a good person. Most of us here at LBT are good people (even the Republicans:faint:) and we all make mistakes, except God, Allah, Jesus, etc.:faint:

TOM: You are right. I was wrong. I will do better. I really do not wish anyone ill will. I'm not the only one whose feathers were ruffled. We should all realize how quickly a political or religious discussion can deteriorate into anger and result in hard feelings. We should keep it on topic and not make it personal.

Thanks for your feedback. I truly appreciate it. I've prayed on the issue and I am back on track.

TOM: You are right. I was wrong. I will do better. I really do not wish anyone ill will. I'm not the only one whose feathers were ruffled. We should all realize how quickly a political or religious discussion can deteriorate into anger and result in hard feelings. We should keep it on topic and not make it personal.

Thanks for your feedback. I truly appreciate it. I've prayed on the issue and I am back on track.

Aw shucks, kid. A little hot headedness can happen to anyone of us and is quite different from persistent and wilful meaness. Although we Rant&Ravers have wildly divergent views we rarely get into slagging each other. This is a civilized and respectful site.

It is true that we have been pushing each other to defend what we each believe in on some of the threads in R&R and we have been pushing the boundaries of polite discourse at times but we have all stopped ourselves from going over the edge. And that's a good thing.

I also suspect that we may often feel a lot of affection and respect for those of us who hold a divergent view point. Afterall, we are all thoughtful folk who are willing to put ourselves and what we believe in out there. And we are all bandsters too and so have been sharing that array of problems together, eh.:phanvan

I frequent another site, an atheist site, and the brawling there does get low down and dirty. Ooh, talk about an ugly barroom brawl. There's bad language, folks cracking chairs over other folks' heads, stabbings in the alley, and no cops in sight (or should I say in site?).

Thanks Green. It sounds like I was just at the wrong site earlier in the week. But then if I was, so was someone else.

You are very kind and have such an interesting way of putting things. I always enjoy reading posts by both you and TOM. And of course TommyO!

You know I think that if we were all able to use humor as well as you three, we would all be better off. I try, I'm just not as clever as you all. But at least I do try.