ELENATION

You better refer to my God with capital "G" now...:teeth_smile: Hey, I haven't seen your progress in a while, you are doing so good!!!! 13 pounds to goal! Congratulations! the TT and BL appointments need to be made with a quickness! Congrats!:biggrin:

I agree with what Brandy said above , I also think that the secret service is highly trained now a days in ways that we couldn't even imagine with so much new technology and based on past experiences and what they've learned, times have changed for the better in that way IMHO. I feel positive about the protection issue. and actually it has happened to a republican president before, the most recent was Ronald Reagan,(I think..) yes, it was supposedly a mentally ill person but still, it could happen to any president/candidate, again, I really feel more positive about this now a days. About foul language, hey, I don't think I've actually cursed before, but I'm sure that I have snapped or been out of line at some point before on other threads because we get caught up in these discussions that we feel so passionate about and we are only human, I understand it can happen, but it does offend some people and that prevents from keeping the debate healthy and even alive... because sometimes it causes several people to leave the thread and so it's not as interesting and spicy:blush: anymore, so I think it's better to keep it respectful in my opinion. Thank you for the apology Watcher, it's cool!

No problem at all Fanny! I know you are very firm about your views but polite at the same time that's why I was puzzled:blush: Keep up the good debate!

Amen to that Jack.

BJ, I hear you, when you hear a bold statement like that about someone you like from your party, it sure can be irritating, I personally am not too much for having a talk to "some" of the heads of states ,I think I would like that process to be very selective and based on each individual case/country, etc... unfortunately there are some out there that have already been dealt with that way and they haven't offered anything positive from their part, no cooperation from their part.., instead they use it to their advantage, but if done carefully and considering the individual/government, etc , it could be positive. One thing is 100% true, politicians need to treat each other with respect, and not use personal attacks, by doing that, it makes all of us the voters to see them in a different light as well ,and it makes the voters respect them. When you see a politician that is either lying and disrespecting, even if you like their views, you lose respect for them, I do cut them some slack, I mean, they are human and they can make mistakes sometimes and say something that may seem like a lie, but it was really an honest mistake, I do try to have an open mind, but sometimes it's too much and becomes unacceptable you know..

Regarding Jimmy Carter meeting with Hamas for instance....well I think we have diplomatic levels for some type of dialogues ,even though it's happened before when a president who meets with a hostile leader might run into problems, Nixon in China for example... but I think it's still an option in some cases. I don't think that if we don't agree with another country's views we should just declare war on them or bomb them , even if they present a threat to our country ,we could still use diplomacy to try to solve the problems and war being the last option only after we have exhausted all other options, otherwise sure war is stupid, sometimes in history it has been necessary though and it's so unfortunate because losing lives is the ultimate loss, completely agree with that. As a republican, one of the things I liked about Ronald Reagan is that he was traitorous (sp..?) he tried it whenever it was possible and I think it was a good thing, therefore I don't think that diplomacy instead war is unpatriotic, I don't think that at all, but Jimmy Carter meeting with Hamas? that makes absolutely no sense to me (IMHO) actually Obama who I don't particularly share political views with, he even draws the line at meeting with Hamas, and I'm aware of his position of meeting with other heads of states, but he said that he didn't agree with Carter's decision to go forward with that meeting because he doesn't support negotiations with Hamas until they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist, and abide by past agreements. As much as Obama and Bush don't agree on mostly anything, Obama said that he would break with Bush's stance of declining to talk to some other international adversaries but that stance does not apply to Hamas, so it's pretty much a shared position among republicans and democrats. The way I see it, its perfectly normal for terrorists to meet with each other and normal for heads of state to meet with each other, but the gathering or mixing of head of states and terrorists is detrimental to the human cause.

Hi BJ, I agree with what you said with H & H, Chris Matthews and Jon Stewart and whether I agree with them or not, they don't bother me and if those are their views, that's fine and like you said they can be fun to watch and yes I also agree that we learn more when we are exposed to different viewpoints from our own, that's why Fox is there for the liberals! so they can learn more:tt2: and it's just Fox! liberals don't have it so bad at all ! IMHO, I see Fox being somewhat biased as much as I see the rest being biased though, all obvoius.

EricaLyn you are correct, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, Headline News and yes, even Fox like you said with the C & H side are left/liberals, Fox tends to lean to the right, I see nothing wrong with that, specially when ALL of the other media are leftists and liberals, if it wasn't for Fox we might as well just have ONE news channel for our whole country with ONE and only ONE left and liberal view... that wouldn't be fun... and it would be selfish too. I'm not sure if Fox has provided inaccurate information or not before, maybe so, the rest of the media? well, I think we all from the right and the left sides know the answer, otherwise we would have to say that ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, Headline News are "perfect", and we all know that's impossible right?

Fanny, maybe I missed it, but did I say you were angry? I hope I didn't, but if I did I apologize because I never thought you were angry, in fact I said I respect your opinion and everyone's and didn't mean to sound demanding, you explain what you want if you want to, it doesn't bother me at all. Also, the reason why I said that I didn't want to go into explaining my beliefs is not because I'm trying to avoid the answer really, what I meant was that believers more than likely understand my beliefs already, and non believers won't, not because they are not smart to understand them, absolutely not, only because they don't find my beliefs and my explanations of them logic or rational as you said it yourself above, so I thought it wouldn't make any difference to either side if I tried to explain my beliefs in my earlier post, so if if I came across as sarcastic or demanding, please know that was not my intention at all. If I explained my personal beliefs I would say that to me believing in God is like believing in an absolute ,but that's just for me, I understand that a belief in God is considered a matter of faith, rather than the evaluation of evidence, which is how it feels for me , and that is just a feeling and/or an emotion for non believers, scientifically inexplicable, so here is my own simple explanation of "my" beliefs, but of course I know it won't be logical to you, which I can understand and respect but I'm still ok with my beliefs. You know, many people including lots of very smart, logical people have believed and continue to believe in God which gives a boost to us believers, but again, that doesn't prove anything. I don't think that neither the believers nor the non believers have convinced the other that there is or there is not a GOd, each shows their side as possibly right... both sides come out thinking that they are right or at least "could" be right, Hey, It's all good.:biggrin2: I'd like to quote what BJean said in one of her posts above that I thought it was extremely interesting and I couldn't have said it better, (I hope you don't mind BJ:redface:) she said: Atheists have it easier because they have a good body of sciende to support their thinking, but as for feelings about religion - whether it is intuition or a very real experience one has had, You can't just throw that out the window because you don't feel it too"

Luluc, that was funny what McCain said:tongue: I've heard all those "crazy republicans" calling Obama "Jimmy Carter Revisited" not me though..:grouphug: Jack's questions... best, Ronald Reagan but I sure admire FDR and he is up there on my list. worst, Jimmy Carter, and he's still out of control...someone needs to revoke his passport, the man goes around the world meeting with terrorists, what a disgrace to our country...scary that he actually thinks that talking to them is going to solve any problems...or he may have a different agenda, I don't know if I want to call him naive, stupid or evil..:behindsofa: or maybe I'll just second what Plain said ...... what a boob!

Jack your post was just right on.

To be fair, I don't think it's just the republican party, I've seen it in both, sometimes within their own party, the democrats are shooting Hillary now big time, not that I agree with her, but it doesn't look too good for them to trash her now I would think. I mean, ther eis a possibility that Obama may choose her as VP, I sincerely hope not and I don't think he will, but it's still a possibility, so I would say that it's better not to trash her just yet... You know, it all comes down to republicans not wanting to believe anything bad they hear or that is out there about their candidate and the democrats doing the same thing.... except for a few very calm and very objective people out there, not many here on LBT, we are too passionate..:thumbup: (Including me!) , otherwise we are all so fired up that we even miss the truth at times, but I think that's only human , we have the two parties fighting for the presidency the two parties don't agree and we the people that are cheering for our party of course don't agree, nobody wants to lose, so we have a big hot mess... anywho, I just think that the negative campaigning , negative propaganda if we want to call it that, has come from both sides not just in this election but pretty much always, it's part of the political game after all...

I understand where you are coming from, again, it's your opinion and feelings, like you said yourself, nothing more, I don't think you are speaking out of ignorance or lack of capacity, and I don't think I am either, in fact by reading the comments on this subject from both sides, most seem pretty smart , only the evidences on both sides are hard to prove. Regarding the prayer language, I agree that some may sound like your example above, not all though, I laughed a little bit because my own prayers don't sound like that at all, I won't speak for others though, I don't ask God to love me, because I believe he already does, I never ask him to make the bad things go away, I always pray that His will be done, good or bad, I love God unconditionally, not just for Him to make the bad go away or for him to love me, it's not a daddy /little girl relationship I have with God which sounds pretty immature, I take care of myself, I don't need an "imaginary daddy" in the sky, which for believers is not really "the sky" it's heaven..just a little difference there.. to solve all my problems, my relationship with God is different, but I know that we won't agree and that's ok, I agree to disagree, and I won't try to explain why I believe or my relationship with Him in details because it won't make any difference, as long as you and I are happy with ourselves, it's all good.:thumbup:

Hey BJ! well, I've been "in love" with him since I read his biography, My American Journey.. his accomplishments are amazing, seems to be a man of great values and convictions and he seems to be very intelligent, I find him to be an inspiration. I do admire him mostly as a human being, for his personal accomplishments, I don't think he is a "politician" and actually I like that about him. When I mentioned him I wasn't comparing him with Obama or saying he is better or worse, but I saw that someone mentioned him and I remembered his book and how much I actually like him, so I couldn't resist to say "mi like Mr. Powell", but the truth is that I can't picture him running for president, I think he is above all the political games, I just don't think it's his thing.. I have read some about his position on this election and he has said that he will be voting for the candidate that he believes can do the job better, he has said that he admires Obama very much and agrees with some of his views, but not all, I read that in an interview.... haven't heard him say anything about the other candidates, but I'm aware that he has voted republican and democrat in the past, so you know, it's not about his political views for me, it's about the kind of man that I believe he is.

THERE YOU ARE MISS GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I sounds that you have gone through a lot and I'm so sorry about that, man, I was imagining the details you were giving on your treatments and all and darn girl, you are some strong woman! but you know, these kind of events in our lives makes us stronger inside and outside, because this radiation, even though so rough now will help you get well again. I would be obssesing about food too and would be dreaming of all the restaurants that I want to visit after the whole thing is over, I don't blame you one bit, I DO want your BMI though.... I know we don't want a low BMI because we are feeling sick, so I probably sound stupid by saying that, I'm sorry, but the last time I had a BMI in the low 20's I must have been 18 years old... but you know what, once you get better, you are going to start gaining and you are going to be just fine! then you will probably have to be watching out what you eat so you don't gain too much:wink: listen, hang in there, you have been very strong through all this, you are an inspiration to me and to us here, I always think about you, pray for you, ok, ok, I know you don't go by the praying thing, but it's like sending good vibes to you my friend! and thank you for updating us and please keep us always updated, I have missed you!:biggrin: I know you are winning this battle and you are getting great care too. Love Elena

:tongue2::huggie:OK, I haven't been on LBT in a while and I haven't heard from Green, and I think we agreed to check on her on this thread... Green, are you there? how are you doing? I've been thinking about you.

Mrs. Flip Flops that was one good point that I actually wanted to mention earlier, I agree that because a politician is Christian, or belongs to any other religion and speaks about it, I don't think that counts as shoving it down our throats either... he/she just has the right to say what he wants and we can either listen to it or not... I mean, we are not going to agree with all of them all the time... I think that goes with religious issues and others as well, you hear politicians talking about different issues over and over and we don't all necessarily agree with them, but that's how they feel, that's what they want to stand for and obviously they are in the public eye and we are going to listen over and over about their views, in my case, if it's something that I totally disagree or find silly or not accurate or whatever the case may be, I just change the channel, just stop listening... sure it may irritate me, I'm human, but at the same time, I recognize their freedom of speech and whether we like it or not, that freedom of speech includes expressing their religious beliefs if they want to, even advocating for them if they want to...

:thumbup:me liki some Collin Powell....

Hey there, not being able to come here lately due to being so busy at work and I'm never in the computer at home... but I have a few minutes now..interesting discussion! I personally have never and will never go door to door preaching my feelings or ideas to others, just not my thing, I'm not thrilled if anybody wakes me up on on a weekend at 8:00am, just because I'm sleepy and tired, but it has nothing to do with the reason why they came to my door though... the way I see it is that some people perceive the religious message as shoving it down their throats, the ones preaching see it as sharing their faith instead, and I can see both sides... you have a sign saying no soliciting, yet they knock on your door, that feels intrusive and rude, I get it...the preacher feels like if they don't share their happiness that they have found through their faith they are preventing you from that same happiness so they feel sort of obligated to share it.... I get it too.... I'm sure that some preachers may have a hidden agenda, sure it's possible, but I don't think they all do, and I think that some just do it out of the goodness of their heart... I mean, a lot of people slam their doors in their faces, that cannot feel good... so I give them a little credit for that, and I'm not talking abouth just atheists, but if a jehova witness comes to preach a catholic, they may get the same treatment sometimes, or vice versa, I personally don't get offended if someone comes to my door and preaches or shares their faith with me... I don't care if they are catholic, evangelicals, muslims, it really doesn't bother me, maybe I'm a little too tolerant?:tongue2: well, unless they wake me up too early, then I may not be so welcoming.... and it doesn't have to be religion related, like this saturday at 7:00am they knocked on our door, it was the condo association asking for volunteers to plant flowers and clean around .... they said that they have put notes on our doors previously advising that they were all doing this saturday, blah, blah... well, I never saw any note, so I didn't appreciate their freaking enthusiasm....:smile: The way I see it, the preachers/ faith sharing people or whatever we want to call them, have the right to preach, and the ones that don't want to be preached have the right to slam their doors and not listen...

OK, not getting into Obama being muslim or not...actually I don't believe he is, at least now, and he obviously belonged to a Christian Church for many years, not exactly a good one, in my humble opinion, a church that is led by a man who give Christians/Christianity a bad name among other things to say the least, really... I think I would give Obama more credit if he would've been a member of a decent muslim church/sect... I absolutely don't care that he is black , like someone posted above, I vote for the candidate that I believe can do the job right and who is of course as close as possible to my political views, which is how many of us vote.., wether he/she is white, black pink or yellow it not an issue for me.. I want to add that I find the fact that a black man and a woman were running for the presidential nomination amazing, just great, it's a step forward for sure and I'm very happy for that. I also don't think is an issue being a muslim, hey, freedom of religion, I'm ok with that too, but to say that muslims have gotten a bad rap because of the president that we have now? Well, that's ridiculous, muslims have gotten a bad rap due to the radical muslim groups that have committed crimes against humanity, those have given muslims a bad name which results in muslims getting a bad rap, that doesn't mean that all muslims are criminals or that they deserve the bad rap, but unfortunately those are the consequences, same thing has happened to christians, etc.... so blaming George Bush is just not accurate.

Well, that surely SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! sorry about that Laurend... at least you are ok and I'm glad for that.... but the whole thing sucks... Last year hubby and I were in an accident, some punk ran a red light and our car was total loss... and he was uninsured too....:biggrin: Take care.

All I can say is Holy Crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Firstly I'm so glad that the OP posted this, because I've never heard about it and my DH has been already addicted to other games, now is the Wii.... and if he gets his hands on this one.... well, I'm trouble.... Before I had to act as if he is a child and I'm the mother who has to set rules for him, I hated it, because I'm not his mother! he would get worse than my two kids! but I admit to being rude to him about it, at first I woud try to say it nicely a few times, when that didn't work, I became Linda Blair in The Exorcist.... I got ugly.... I mean, I had no other choice.... I'm so sorry that you have to go through this and I'm grateful though that you posted it so I was able to find out about this warcraft game, so I'm prepared to prohibit him from EVER getting it and so I'm now aware what it does to people... ugh!

Yeap, fundies, fanatics of an idea or belief, it can go both ways...