Andrewwhyte

i am OK with that. No more chapels in the prison system. The bible shall be available in the prison library on the same rotational availability as witchcraft tomes. The crown shall cease supplying salary for chaplains/imams/rabbis.

You are of course, correct. I was referring to your comment about losing all your civil rights. This would indicate that you could be denied your religion even if it was the dominant religion. That has never been true. As a non dominant-religion adherent I firmly believe all forms of superstitious belief should be treated equally.

No, but he has chosen to be devil's advocate for the purpose of the discussion; I am treating him as such.

I think it is more accurate to say that in a parliamentary system and especially in a proportional representation system the leaders are more closely identified with their party. France is a good example of a multi-party presidential system where the legislators are independent of their leader similar to US.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080207/tuk-sharia-law-comments-criticised-6323e80_1.html "With 30 rounds, At the target in front, In your own time...Carry on!" How do you feel about it?

I haven't jumped since October, my gear is out of date, my Sigma rating has expired and my Strong rating is uncurrent; am I a former skydiver? It sure feels like it to me. If I do 100 jumps this year does that qualify me for the year? How about 50? 25? It would sure feel like I quit if I did that few, yet there are many on here that never do 100 in a year. If I don't jump at all this year at what point should HH cancel my password? I mean, after all I still have more jumps than posts. Does it count if I still have a rig in my closet? When you are at the DZ do you politely (or impolitely) turn away from those who don't jump? What if they have big tits? (rhetorical) Should the mods immediately recycle any posts made by Beezyshaw's wife or Skinneyshreck's mother?

I agree. I also think it is lunacy to vote for someone because they are an evangelical, or to refuse to vote for someone because they are a Mormon. Looking at the GOP vote splits in the south and in Utah it is clear that is happening as well. Personally I think Obama let a huge opportunity escape when the race thing came up with the accusations of Clinton not showing enough reverence for MLK. If he had made a speech at that point telling democrats not to vote for him because he was black, but rather because of (insert buzzwords here) he would have had the liberals gushing and the moderate right quietly nodding their heads. The Kennedy comparisons are nice, but you have to walk the walk.

No argument there. However we need to treat the cause not the symptom. People with no legitimate interest in our country voting is the symptom, people with no legitimate interest in our country having a passport is the cause. If someone is a citizen they are a full citizen; we do need to put tighter controls on who gets that privilege.

Nowhere in the English cum American system have prisoners lost their religious rights. Usually it is quite the opposite- you better practice if you know what is good for you. I have no problem denying this guy his religious baubles as long as they deny everyone else theirs; no bibles, no Korans, no Tom Toms, no sweat lodges.

Firestorm. Howie Long jumps off the cliff with the girl and does a tandem base jump. No greenscreen used; they did it with the real cliff in the background. One take only. The stunt man went in; you can't get much more realistic than that.

Well no she wouldn't. The US system draws the superior talent to the Senate; if the president was chosen from the house that would not be the case.

Ya, maybe I did and didn't think about it. Normally that is the sort of thing that gets my shit in a knot though; the constitution says I get a vote, not I get a vote providing,...

A brokered convention is a good thing when there are more than two candidates and it goes to a second or third ballot. When the party brass whores themselves out prior to the first ballot, not so much.

Really? I don't recall the constitution saying that anywhere. I voted from Mexico last time and i don't recall being asked to sign anything like that.

Nice place to park.

Tom, I know you don't want to post the video, but will you attach it in an email to registered TMs? Andrew

I fail to see where strengthening your abs will improve your arch. Work on increasing ab flexibility if you want a better arch. I work on ab strength in the vain hope of decreasing my minimum fall rate.

My guess is this is the same sentiment of Limbaugh and Coulter. I'm obviously politically-strategically naive as I just don't see the point. Because if McCain wins, the soft-right faction of the GOP will regain lost prominence; if he loses the conservative right will likely clamp things down even further. The cynic would say he places health of the party the above health of the nation. This is a common affliction with those who live and breath partisan politics. The apologist would say he feels that in the long run, the country's health is directly linked with his version of party health. This attitude toward evangelical Christianity is easily transferred to evangelical Republicanism.

That would be like the EU agreeing to straight "REP BY POP" for their decision making. No chance in hell; Berlin and Vichy Paris would make all the decisions (Yes I know Switzerland is not in the EU).

With all the Dems who wont vote for Clinton and the Repubs who wont vote for McCain it is certainly looking like an interesting election. I think this really puts into relief just how divided the country really is.

When i was 17, just out of school I picked the university (in the country) the furthest I could think of and went there. It was 400 miles away. A few years later I hitch hiked up to Yukon for the summer; stayed for ten years.

Ya spending limits would not fly, but i am not so sure you could not limit contributions from anyone other than a registered voter (ie corps or pressure groups).

Snowball fights. Also checking from behind.

Did you read the thread title? What part of foreign didn't you get? The issues surrounding the American electoral process are mostly not particularly American. Campaign finance rules are an issue in most democracies. In Canada the government has put limits on third party spending several times, only to have them thrown out by the supreme court (along with agonizingly cryptic comments which invite them to try again). Lately we have put some limits on corporate donations and campaign spending while adding some social funding. it doesn't seem to have changed much. One interesting effect is that because social funding is based upon votes garnered in the last election, there is now more incentive to vote for the fringe parties rather than strategically voting i.e. I really like the Greens but they cannot win. I hate the Tories most so I will vote Liberal to keep them out. This at least to some degree is replaced by- I really like the Greens but they cannot win. I will go and vote for them anyway because they get more funding for next time if I do. Shifting all campaign financing to such a system would, in my opinion, unleash a tax revenue sucking monster the likes of which the country has never seen before.