okalb

I can choose whether or not to be offended by it, but a lot of that has to do with the context or intent. If you know that what you are going to say is going to offend someone and you choose to say it anyway that is your right. If there was no way to say it other than the offensive way then so be it. But, if you could have said the same thing in a way that wasn't as offensive and yet you chose to go the offensive route well then my level of respect for you just went way down and I will think much less of you. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be allowed to say it. It just means that I may react to that in a negative way and you shouldn't be surprised when I do. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

The answer is actually very simple. RESPECT! Acknowledge the fact that something may be offensive to other people that think differently from you. If there is a less offensive way to say it, why not use the less offensive. Show a little respect. Unfortunately, there is very little of that in this and similar threads. Now, in the case of what airman said, he did it intentionally to be disrespectful. His statement was disgusting and shows a lot about his character. The fact that he said it about the POTUS says even more. Like it or not, he is the POTUS and to say something like that shows a complete lack of respect not just for the man, but the office and the country. Now, you can point to all of the horrible things said about President Bush, but the "they did it first" defense doesn't make him look any better. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Emergency rooms take people in order of the seriousness of the illness. I don't care about the nationality or legal status of an ill person. So if a person from England were here on vacation and had a heart attack, do you feel that they should have to wait to be helped because the Americans should go first? Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Funny you should put it that way because many on the left feel exactly the same way with regards to the way the right is behaving in the healthcare debate. If you believe that you should probably take a civics class. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Fixed it for ya A little difference here, the constitution doesn't give the illegals the right to free health and welfare and a job, but it does give us the right to bear arms. Does it give you the right to bear arms without them being registered? BTW, I have no problem with the right to bear arms. I have a problem with people saying things like "if you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about" I could have just as easily said tapping everyone's phones as registering guns, but I figured given some of the gun nuts around here it would have more impact the way I said it. The other issue here is that someone with a gun doesn't mean he broke the law, it is legal to have a gun. The illegal has broken the law from the moment he stepped over the border. Everytime I get caught speeding I get a ticket, evertime an illegal gets caught being illegal he gets let go. Doesn't really seem fair does it. I am a citizen and he is not, shouldn't I get free pass before he does or at least I should get as many free passes as the illegal does. Agreed, but looking Mexican doesn't mean you broke the law either. but there is a greater chance you did if you are mexican. just out of the fact that it is best to do things efficiently, I would concentrate my time and money working in the area that I would get the largest results and work out from there. that being said since most illegals are from mexico I would start there and work my way to the lower number of illegals like polish or french. So you feel that it ok to violate the civil rights of Americans in order to catch the people who are here illegally because that is the most efficient way to solve the problem? I will again bring up that many crimes could be prevented by the govt tapping all citizen's phones but I for one would be opposed to them taking such measures. So where do you draw the line? What rights is it ok to violate? Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

The issue is not how the illegals are affected by laws like Arizona's. The issue is how legal residents and citizens are affected. The gun registration issue is a good parallel. Having a gun does not mean you broke the law, but being of Mexican descent does not mean you broke the law either. The Arizona law essentially requires all citizens, whether they broke the law or not, to carry proof of citizenship documents and present them upon command. It is very similar to requiring all guns, not matter who owns them, to be registered. You mean legal residents being affected by things like, less murders, less abuse of emergency rooms, less rapes, less kidnappings, things that I am sure are not high on the legal peoples lists of important things. I am sure that many horrible crimes can be prevented by the government tapping the phones of everyone in the US at all times. Does that mean they should be allowed to do it? Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Fixed it for ya A little difference here, the constitution doesn't give the illegals the right to free health and welfare and a job, but it does give us the right to bear arms. Does it give you the right to bear arms without them being registered? BTW, I have no problem with the right to bear arms. I have a problem with people saying things like "if you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about" I could have just as easily said tapping everyone's phones as registering guns, but I figured given some of the gun nuts around here it would have more impact the way I said it. The other issue here is that someone with a gun doesn't mean he broke the law, it is legal to have a gun. The illegal has broken the law from the moment he stepped over the border. Everytime I get caught speeding I get a ticket, evertime an illegal gets caught being illegal he gets let go. Doesn't really seem fair does it. I am a citizen and he is not, shouldn't I get free pass before he does or at least I should get as many free passes as the illegal does. Agreed, but looking Mexican doesn't mean you broke the law either. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Fixed it for ya A little difference here, the constitution doesn't give the illegals the right to free health and welfare and a job, but it does give us the right to bear arms. Does it give you the right to bear arms without them being registered? BTW, I have no problem with the right to bear arms. I have a problem with people saying things like "if you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about" I could have just as easily said tapping everyone's phones as registering guns, but I figured given some of the gun nuts around here it would have more impact the way I said it. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Fixed it for ya Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Ok, let's try it this way. An underage girl goes into a bar dressed like a slut. Proceeds to do shots with every guy that will buy them for her. She proceeds to flirt with every guy in the place. She flashes her tits to anyone that wants to see them. She is attracting as much attention as she can. She has already broken a few laws by being there and drinking in the first place as well as public nudity. She walks to the bathroom and a guy follows her in there and rapes her. Is she at fault for being raped. She was certainly asking for it wasn't she? She broke several laws. So by your logic she must be at fault. Of course in the real world she is not at fault and shouldn't be. She was raped. It makes no difference how she was acting before the rape took place. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

The real problem is where do you draw the line and who decides where that line is drawn. What some consider vile hate speak others don't. While I think these are disgusting horrible people, I do strongly support their right to speak. As long as they don't take action, they should be allowed to say whatever they want. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

And what exactly does that have to do with what I quoted? Odd - I would have sworn that I replied to post 5, not post 1. Of course, the fact that current workers are paying for those now retired *does* fit in with the 'enslaving the workers' part of the quote in the post that I didn't respond to. I know quite a few people that would be in big trouble if it were not for their social security checks every month. If they did not have those checks coming in, the government (we) would end up supporting them anyway. Unless the right wants to leave them to starve. Either way, while there are numerous projections that show then end of funding for SS, there are as many people bending the numbers and changing things for their desired result as we have with climate change. As of yet I haven't heard of anyone not getting their check or any of the checks bouncing. I also never said that the system was perfect nor did I say that it shouldn't have some changes made. But it certainly wasn't the end of the world as we know it. I could say the exact same thing about the HC bill. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

And what exactly does that have to do with what I quoted? Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

You just recited the Democratic credo. With everything going on, I think we are moving further and further away from civilization Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Only sort of....it was actually representative John Taber, Republican of New York, in 1935, speaking against the Social Security Act. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

“Never in the history of the world has any measure been brought here so insidiously designed as to prevent business recovery, to enslave workers and to prevent any possibility of the employers providing work for the people.” Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

Sorry, I should have used the sarcasm emoticon. I have no problem paying for other people's children to go to school just like I have no problem paying for universal healthcare. I left out the last line of my post which was: "That is the price we pay for living in a civilized society" Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

I have no children, I have no intentions of ever having children. Why should my taxes go to paying for other people's children to go to school. Please don't make me pay for an education for people who don't want to inconvenience themselves by not home schooling their own children. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

I favor the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest. If you are not intelligent enough to figure out your own healthcare system then your existence weakens the gene pool. How very christian of you Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

That would be pretty pointless since you have no proof whatsoever that jesus ever taught anyone anything. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

First of all, I know many that are living proof that the above statement just isn't true. The only "faith" they needed was a desire to quit. Anyway, I already heard YOUR answer to my post. While I disagree with almost every post I have ever read of yours, I respect the fact that you feel you are trying to help. I respect the fact that you truly believe what you say. I was really looking for his response. Given the "reality" that he believes I wanted to hear what he had to say. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

So you still respond to everything except my actual post. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

And there you go with the persecution crap again. I guess we can always count on you to show how hard the christians have it. In reality the christians in this country have been trying for years to legislate morality. You may find a few examples of the non religious trying to legislate away from religion, but there are at least hundreds if not thousands of examples of the opposite happening. I agree that telling someone about god is not forcing anything. That is not what I was referring to. But, the minute you start to try to pass laws to legislate what you believe to be the ‘correct’ morals, you are no longer telling people, you are forcing them. I was really not trying to get into a religious debate. There are enough threads about that. I only brought religion into the discussion because Ron was talking negatively about people who look to drugs and alcohol as a crutch when he clearly does the same using god. You also picked one sentence out of my post and chose to attack it rather than address the main issue of the post. Which, in case you missed it, was to say that using drugs and alcohol to escape mentally into an alternate reality or find comfort is no different than using religion to do the same. The same way that most addicts will deny that what they do is a problem, the extremely religious will deny that they have a dependency. The same way the vast majority of the people that use drugs and alcohol do so responsibly in a way that doesn’t harm others, the vast majority of the religious do the same. It is the extreme from both groups that cause the problem for the rest. Once again, I couldn’t care less either way what your addiction is as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, but to say one is a better solution than the other is bullshit. In your world to you it might be. To someone who thinks your beliefs are crap it may not be. Who are you to decide that you are right and they are wrong. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

I am not being hysterical or hostile. Ron is extremely condescending in the way he talks to people about drug usage. I realize that he has a background in helping people recover and that is great. That doesn’t mean his way is the right or only way. He often says things implying that the way to get over your addiction is through god. That is crap. I know of many people who have quit doing drugs without the need for some mythical deity to make it happen. Again, if it works for you, go for it. But to pretend that you aren’t just replacing a dependency on drugs with one on an invisible friend that gives you the “strength” to quit is bullshit. Religion is nothing more than a crutch to help you make it through the day. Just like drugs. I don’t begrudge anyone their drug of choice and as long as they don’t bother anyone else with it.. The religious types often want their particular brand of morality forced upon everyone else. What they fail to see is that their morals are not necessarily the same as everyone else. I have no problem with you wasting your Sundays taking part in the ceremony of choice, why should you have a problem with someone who wants to spend their Sunday laying on the couch and getting high. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana

From reading past posts of yours I would argue that this statement is complete and utter crap. You have just replaced mood altering chemicals with mood altering religion. I have no problem with that, but don't try to pretend that your extreme religious beliefs are anything more than a different drug of choice. They are no different. You are not living any differently. You just choose to look to an invisible friend for your high instead of chemicals. You still end up in pretty much the same place. Again, I have no problem with that other than your attitude that in some way your drug makes you superior and everyone who chooses to use some other form of mood altering substance has a problem. There are many who believe that your particular affliction causes more pain and suffering than all the pot and alcohol combined. Time flies like an arrow....fruit flies like a banana