This is getting interesting. Ahhhh it's been a long post March Maddness and Summer.

Oly would of been a fantastic Conquistador. He might have found Machu Pichu and rid us of that disgusting heresy. Oh well.

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I'm not sure what a religion is, but they get their followers to give them enormous sums of money and treat their dogmas as sacred. That's a pretty good start.

lol @ the masses of Muslims having respect for Judaism as a religion (and vice versa). At least the Catholics and Protestants can generally stand each other now (thank God for Roe v. Wade).

I agree '83. I was responding to Oly's great desire to stamp out a faith system he doesn't like. You are also correct that I am not anti-Christian in real life. It can be a beautiful faith. It can also be st!T used to propagate fear and a sense of superiority without an iota of the compassion that is discussed in the New Testament. Perhaps I comment here when I am annoyed by it. My apologies.

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This statement is kind of funny. Did Oly and SG go camping together this summer while I was away? You got the tone and the usage of bold there Mike, try to include some more caps.

What makes it a more sucessful cult than Christianity? The fact that it is growing while Christianity is shrinking?

While I agree that the Mormons are bonkers, at least there is evidence that Joseph Smith actually lived. There is not a shred of evidence that Jesus of Nazateth ever walked the earth. (Please include some when you tell me how wrong I am.)

I'm just glad that our boys don't drink.

I opened this thread to great disappointment. Was expecting more until...

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Makes more sense now. A few comments....

Blaming the media is, imo, wrong. They are private companies, and if one outlet is getting curb-stomped for reporting about an offensive in Iraq while another is having a round table about whether or not Britney has left her mind with her panties, who am I to blame them. I watch the news-hour with Jim Leher. It is boring yet informative--perhaps not perfect, but at least it is not driven by ads and viewership in the same way as MSNBC et. al. There is plenty of decent media if that is what you want.

It is now clear to me that Oly likes to do bong hits and read rants.

I do agree with Oly's point that the most disturbing part is the over-confidence the survey takers exhibit. Knowing your limitation is crucial to knowing your strength.

You mean some people don't get enough nonsense here to keep them busy and must frequent other sites? Wow, I apparently have more of a life than I thought. For Christ's sake, at least you could spend your time trolling a UM site!

I have no idea what this thread is about, but after a few days in Monroe County, I doubt I will care. (Of course, this wont stop me from bumping this thread)

Cheers all.

Actually, thanks for the history lesson nEERly. I don't know too much about this stuff. I used to live near some Boeing plants in Washington State, and I do know that many jobs depend on an order of what sounds like a few planes. An order for about 8 planes could be the difference of 4000 jobs for a few years if I remember correctly.

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You're correct. A poorly written original post, Chas. I don't think I have a partisan agenda to reveal. Irregardless of our views on governments role in this nation or our views on security, I think we can all agree it is silly to spend billions on things the military doesn't want or need. It is a tricky situation, politically. On one hand, Democrats (though they have given it no lip service since 9/11) traditionally think the military is a nice place to begin cuts; and though Republicans officially oppose any waste, they are usually for offering the military anything they ask for to keep us safe. On top of this is the fact that any congressmen whose district depends on these jobs will be put in a really tough spot to oppose the expenditures. It wont take a campaign ad firms' best guy to come up with a biting sound bite no matter what they do. And Gates' public opposition puts it more in the limelight. Obama will be put to the test if this bill makes it to his desk also. A veto will come to everyones attention because he will also veto the provision in the bill to help soldiers or a few cases of baby formula for poor orphans.

I meant to write that I find the matters that require political courage interesting and will eagerly watch to see how this plays out. But as we know, political courage rarely pays off. Sadly, I look for the issue to be swept under the rug and the status quo to prevail.

And will ask him to veto a bill full of pork.

"Gates has been vocal about financial reform at the Pentagon, trying to rein in some big-ticket contracts and telling Congress to stop spending money on C-17 transport planes that are not needed and a $485 million alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)....But with jobs at stake, Congress has ignored those requests for years and continued to appropriate funds for the C-17 and a second F-35 engine."

This could be interesting if Obama has the balls to do this. Lots of dems will get ruffled feathers as their districts benefit from this BS. Perhaps the teabaggers will re-shift their focus (back) to security from deficits since that is a sound byte that is proven to resonate.

Excellent five post rant Gold.

The slippery slope arguments that appear in just about every soapbox thread are laughable. It's like a train wreck that you must click on anytime you log on.

Still, I much prefer our nonsense to non-mountaineer nonsense.