George Bush: Worst American president in history

[BJean 16]

Betsyjane: Thanks for sharing your background a little too. Your mother sounds like she's sharp as a tack! That's fabulous. I am sure she appreciates her right to vote a whole lot and doesn't take it for granted like some of us do. If she is a Republican this Iraq thing must be hard for her. Personally I don't think that anything that Richard Nixon did is in any way as bad as what this president has done. If anyone deserves to be impeached, it's G.W. Some of the older generation who lived through WWII and the depression can sure teach us a thing or two. I would love to hear what all your mother has to say about the current state of affairs.

[green 6]

Here's an interesting website that I got from a site that I often frequent.

http://web.archive.org/web/20041113084054/www.reandev.com/taliban/

[Carlene 12]

Here's an interesting website that I got from a site that I often frequent.

http://web.archive.org/web/20041113084054/www.reandev.com/taliban/

Very interesting, Green.....and SCARY. I never realized that Methodists and Presbyterians and Episcopalians were "the spirit of the Antichrist". I'll bet that's news to them, too.

[green 6]

Yep, I find these quotes awfully scary too. Some of my reasons are personal. My father was a Polish Jew and most of my family on his side perished in the Holocaust. This is to say that my father's people were murdered because they were deemed different from the prevailing majority. My father was sufficiently traumatised by these events that he didn't even tell us kids that he was Jewish until I was 21. He felt that it wasn't a "safe" group to belong to. As far as we knew he was a Pole who had changed his name and never, ever wanted to talk about his childhood.

You might be interested to hear that the individual who posted the above address is a European and made the comment that he is glad that he doesn't live in the United States.

I suspect, though my information is only anecdotal, that many Europeans are truly disturbed and puzzled by the rise of the fundamentalist right wing movement. You see they still do remember what Hitler and the Nazi movement did to those who didn't belong or chose to dissent.

I find these quotes frightening and I find that the kind of thinking behind these kind of quotes to be entirely anti-intellectual and that must be of concern, too. The world is such a complex place and these are individuals who believe that it can be reduced to a handful of simple-minded slogans...mean-spirited and spiteful slogans.

[BJean 16]

I went there too and read those quotes. They were written and spoken by a lot of people who hate themselves and distrust their own inner feelings. They need structure and fear to keep them from wrongdoing. They need to quote the Bible and put down others for them to feel superior and holier than thou. They are terrified little, little, ignorant people.

I always liked the quote, "Be good, for goodness sake." Not be good so you can be saved... smite your fellow countryman if he disagrees with your church's teachings... all in an effort to provie your obedience to God so as to obtain entrance into heaven.

I feel really sorry for these ignorant bastards, except in the case of Ann Coulter, she's an ignorant bitch. I only wish it were true that the second coming of Christ is at hand; because Jesus himself would provide an education of love and peace that would reduce these selfish ignorant shells to rubble.

[Betsyjane 2]

Not so many of these quotes are coming out since the last election. But it's really scary that Iran sponsored a seminar on whether the holocaust ever happened. I will truly not be surprised if the end of the world DOES come, by nukes from Iran! Too bad we decided to be bullies instead of statesmen. We blew our chance for influence, and we blew our war budget on Iraq!

[Carlene 12]

I only wish it were true that the second coming of Christ is at hand; because Jesus himself would provide an education of love and peace that would reduce these selfish ignorant shells to rubble.

Unfortunately, the second coming will also reduce the rest of us "to rubble", as well. The second coming is more than just the second earthly appearance of Christ; it is also the end of the world.

[BJean 16]

Born agains don't believe that it will be the end of THEIR world. Just the end of the world for anyone who isn't "born again". The born agains will float up to join God and live in glory as angels in heaven. They believe that if they are married to a person who isn't "born again", that they will float up into God's realm and look down on their spouse, sleeping and unaware of Jesus's return. Those people who are left will have to endure all of the wrath and misery of the unsaved and unclean... and the end of the world as we know it.

[BJean 16]

Betsyjane: We sure have blown it! With this administration in office for the next 2 years, it is hard to believe that we're going to be able to get this country back on a reasonable path before something catastrophic happens.

[Carlene 12]

They believe that if they are married to a person who isn't "born again", that they will float up into God's realm and look down on their spouse, sleeping and unaware of Jesus's return. Those people who are left will have to endure all of the wrath and misery of the unsaved and unclean... and the end of the world as we know it.

Sounds like the Protestant version of Purgatory!

[Carlene 12]

James Dobson must be a Republican. I wonder exactly who might consider sexual misconduct with a child "sort of a joke"?

On the October 6, 2006 broadcast of Focus on the Family, Dobson commenting on the congressional page scandal stated,

We condemn the Foley affair categorically, and we also believe that what Mr. Clinton did was one of the most embarrassing and wicked things ever done by a president in power. Let me remind you, sir, that it was not just James Dobson who found the Lewinsky affair reprehensible. More than 140 newspapers called for Clinton's resignation. But the president didn't do what Mr. Foley has done in leaving. He stayed in office, and he lied to the grand jury to obscure the facts. As it turns out, Mr. Foley has had illicit sex with no one that we know of, and the whole thing turned out to be what some people are now saying was a -- sort of a joke by the boy and some of the other pages

[BJean 16]

Carlene: I hadn't heard the news. Don't you think they meant that the pages played a "joke" on Foley by the claim that he sent obscene messages?

Don't you find it interesting that they would use this as another venue for them to condemn Clinton's consensual behavior with Lewinski? I am amazed that the Republicans still don't get it. They will probably go on forever about how what Clinton did was "illegal" and how sweet little girl Lewinsky was taken advantage of, etc. And the more they go on, and the more they try to make their behavior not look so bad by bringing up the Clinton "affair", the more ridiculous they look to the world.

It would be like Clinton saying what he did wasn't so bad because of what Nixon did in the White House . They don't relate in any way. Do you understand what I mean?

[green 6]

The Rapture believers are very weird folk. I used to lurk occasionally on a site called, I believe, Rapture Ready. A lot of those folks were really thrilled by all the bad things happening in the Middle East. They figured it was one big step closer to the Rapture!

One woman wrote in to say that she was concerned that the Rapture might come while her daughter was away at camp, a distance of 200 miles. And a guy wrote in to say that he had discovered that his American TV didn't work in the UK - he had recently been transferred there - and he was afraid that he was gonna miss the news on Fox leading up to his Rapture.

*much giggling from Green, a cynical atheist, at this point*

When they weren't getting excited about the prospect of the wholesale destruction of the Middle East they were exchanging cleaning tips and investment advice. Man, I loved that site.... It was a good place to hang out while drinking a glass of wine or a scotch-rocks.

[green 6]

As for Clinton and his Oval Office extra-curricular activities, aren't these people tired of flogging that dead, dead horse? Maybe Dobson should experience a little bit of earthly rapture and ask his wife (or his secret boyfriend) for a Lewinsky.

[BJean 16]

Green: They certainly are weird folk. About all you can do is giggle and take another shot of whatever's handy.

My first husband's brother was an evangelist. Of the Southern Baptist persuasion. In 1968, he was absolutely certain that the Rapture was going to happen within the next 10 years. He would preach for hours citing tons of written "proof" that as soon as the Israelites recaptured their lost ground, the Rapture would ensue. Poor dude is still waxing eloquent with the same old tripe. Far freakin' out!