pkzip

quote:Originally posted by Menchise: First of all, what's the ACLU? American Civil Liberties Union They were instrumental in helping to purge our country of signs hanging over water fountains that read, "Whites Only." They fought against the concentration camps built in the US for Americans that looked Japanese. Yet they fought for the right of the Ku Klux Klan to publicly demonstrate. They are absolutely vilified by conservatives because of their stance on gun control, abortion, book banning, loyalty oaths, creationism, homosexuals, labor unions, etc., all the usual trigger words. The Far Right considers them to be, at best, a Satanic playground for rosy-eyed and meddlesome intellectuals; Pure Evil. [Nick, it would require a whole 'nother thread to discuss the ACLU, and you already know exactly how these guys would weigh in on the subject.] [ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: pkzip ]

quote:Originally posted by $iLk: Our currency is labeled "in God we trust" Our pledge of allegiance identifies this country as "under God" The words, "under God," did not appear in the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954 (Cold War anti-Soviet reaction). "One Nation Under God" explicitly establishes a State Monotheism. "In God We Trust" was absent from paper currency before 1956. It appeared on some coins earlier, as did other sundry phrases, such as "Mind Your Business." The original U.S. motto, chosen by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, is E Pluribus Unum ("Of Many, One"), celebrating plurality, not theocracy. The presidential oath of office is the only one in the Constitution, and it does not contain the phrase "so help me God" or the requirement to swear on a bible (Art. II, Sec.1). [ 10-20-2001: Message edited by: pkzip ]

quote:Originally posted by aramike: Our founding fathers also did not believe in the current incarnation of separation of church and state, and they are the ones who wrote the words that we infer to create such a separation. Check your history books -- in 1777 Congress voted to import 100,000 Bibles from Europe for distribution to the people. This hardly seems like the activity of people who wished to separate religion to the extent that some liberals do today. You mean these founding fathers?: "I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition [Christianity] one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded on fables and mythology." -------------- "The Christian god is a three headed monster, cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites." -------------- "And the day will come, when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His Father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva, in the brain of Jupiter." -------------- "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man." - Thomas Jefferson "Among the most detestable villains in history, you could not find one worse than Moses. Here is an order, attributed to 'God' to butcher the boys, to massacre the mothers and to debauch and rape the daughters. I would not dare so dishonor my Creator's name by attaching it to this filthy book [the Bible]." -------------- "As to the book called the Bible, it is blasphemy to call it the Word of God. It is a book of lies and contradictions and a history of bad times and bad men." -------------- "Accustom a people to believe that priests and clergy can forgive sins...and you will have sins in abundance." ---------------- "The Christian church has set up a religion of pomp and revenue in pretended imitation of a person [Jesus] who lived a life of poverty." - Thomas Paine "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." - James Madison Ben Franklin? Too many quotes to choose from. [ 10-20-2001: Message edited by: pkzip ]

quote:Originally posted by Eclipse: After their [10 Commandments] removal, crime rate in schools increased sharply in comparison to previous years. It is impossible to prove a direct and exclusive causal link between these two. Far too many factors weigh into this observed phenomenon. quote:If you wish to display the Hebrew religious laws, we would have quite a few more than ten commandments. If a 'lack of' is bad (as you postulated above), wouldn't more be better? (I personally believe ALL religions' moral and ethical codes should be posted. That way kids can see that all religions have much in common, and the State would not be seen as supporting one religion above the others.) quote:now our children are being indoctrinated with their [ACLU's] ideology and morals Civil Liberties include things I'm not so wild about, either. But specifically which of their ideologies and morals do you object to? Please quote from their website and cite the url. You're confusing what they stand for, with how they've sometimes put that into practice. The ACLU is not the only organization that has occasionally strayed from its stated goals. [ 10-20-2001: Message edited by: pkzip ]

Jeez, what a dull thread so far. Lemme run this up the ol' heathen totem pole then: [RP] I hereby announce the establishment of the Church Of The Everlasting Bong-hit. We've got lots of members flocking to our services. We glorify God by sparking up. And you should check out our Brownies For Charity fellowship every Thursday. Careful, don't 'prohibit my free exercise thereof.' Now, whose job is it to determine whether or not my church is to be recognized (sanctioned?) by the state? A panel of middle-aged conservative white anglo-saxon protestant males? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Yeah, lemme guess how they're going to vote. ------------------------ I remember so many high school football games that had prayers that ended, "In Christ's name we pray" (not 'politically correct,' but no one ever stopped the MC). I could feel the (very few) non-Christians around me cringing at that. I believe that the 'Liberals' have pushed their agenda because of pervasive little abuses just like that. Not every American prays in the Name of Christ. Plain and simple. You comfortable with that? You willing to acknowledge that 'Jesus stuff' injustice too, and to fight just as hard to right THAT wrong? [/RP] [Edit: ] [ 10-19-2001: Message edited by: pkzip ]

Echelon. Don't get me started. Needed a patch to run on AMD chips, fer godsakes. Said patch was, um, tardily forthcoming. Unpredictable results with each graphics driver update. Most afterthoughted implementation of multiplayer since Hidden and Dangerous, including horrifying warping. Horrifying when the server wasn't crashing every three minutes. Menus that would sometimes come up in the cyrillic alphabet, no joke. Well-intentioned Russian coders who ended up having their hands and tongues tied by the distributors (or was it the publishers, or both). Check out their forum, still some hangers-on hoping for an additional patch. That game was like a junior high school cheerleader: enticing eye candy with some perky bits, but not mature enough to deliver without a whole lot of manipulation that left you feeling dirty and ashamed for trying. Okay, maybe I need to think up a better analogy.

Don't waste your time cranking out all that luscious prose. Outsource it! http://www-csag.ucsd.edu/individual/pakin/complaint

Dang bro! All that stuff will buy you enough crack to last another week! Why not just dust a convenience store instead?

quote:Originally posted by Advil: Don't get me started on unions. I don't want to. That's why I specifically stated non-union in my example. [Edit:When it comes to most unions these days, I would agree with Jag's term: goons.] [ 10-12-2001: Message edited by: pkzip ]

quote:Originally posted by $iLk: If you work really hard and long, you get taken care of completely Tell that to a non-union factory worker who gets laid off after twenty years when the production facility gets moved to Mexico. [Edit: Rattler! Good to see you, chief. Hope you're around for awhile.] [ 10-11-2001: Message edited by: pkzip ]

quote:Originally posted by Luc: The fireplace channel (24 hours of fireplace video footage). Great channel; did you see the episode where the log was burning? Awesome.

quote:Originally posted by Jaguar: but 7 of 9 is, was, and always will be my favorite, (Bowed head) AMEN!!! * Reverently agreeing * Gentlemen, let us pray... I thought the set and costumes were too monochromatic. Gimme some of that ol' Sixties' oversaturated colors. Speaking of which, nobody was wearing red? How are we supposed to know who's going to die? Not too bad for the premiere episode. Certainly measures up to TNG's "Encounter at Farpoint."

Low-End-System Modem-Boy here likes it. I think I'm getting better framerates at long visibilities.

Congratulations SC, and beta team. Well done.

quote:Originally posted by aramike: Marriage is against my belief system. Millions of women around the world right now are now breathing a sigh of relief.