NCclimber

I think if you ran a similar anti-Christian cartoon in the New York Times (or any large US city), you might get a violent reaction. There are many Christians that have such a strong faith in Christ it defies logic. It's easy to make such claims if you ignore the facts. Hundreds of people died as a result of publishing a few cartoons that mocked Islam. Cartoons mocking Christianity are pretty commonplace in this country, but we don't see massive protests or people getting killed in response to those cartoons. It's interesting to see how people vilify Christianity in this country for what amounts to exercises of free speech, while excusing the brutality and intolerance of Muslims throughout the world. The list of Islam related crimes in Europe seems to grow every week. Here, in the US, we aren't currently running the risk of Muslim domination, but American culture - who we are as a people - seems to be disappearing. Up until about 10 or 15 years ago, it was well understood that immigrants were expected to assimilate. Learn our language and customs. Now its all about accommodating all the newcomers. Who cares if they are here legally? They're humans, too. Who are we to deny them full access to all the perks of living this country? Come on in. Need an Uzebekistan translator so you can get taxpayer funded medical coverage? No problem - we'll require all doctors to provide translators. Break the law getting into this country? We'll make sure no law enforcement (except border patrols) ever asks about your residency status. The immigration situations here and in Europe remind me of the saying - "Don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out".

Sure... I guess those other country's SYSTEMS just make better use of the research than we do. You know..... OUTCOMES. Probably so, but completely irrelevant to my point.

I'm not sure how one thing (State taxes) can be excluded from something that is completely different (Federal Income Taxes).

Offering the exception to obscure the norm. SSDD Oh sure. I suppose Australia, Austria, Brunei, Canada, CUBA, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK are exceptions too. They all have lower infant mortality than the USA. And here's the list of exceptions that have longer life expectancy than the USA. Japan Hong Kong Iceland Switzerland Australia Sweden Italy Canada Israel France Spain Norway New Zealand Austria Belgium Germany Singapore Cyprus Finland Luxembourg Netherlands UK Greece Ireland I was talking about technological and pharmacutical advances, not coverage. You know...... research.

And me thinks you use a cliche because you can't make a reasoned case. I did. You (seemingly) ignored it. And regarding PAs, Bill tends to treat implied personal attacks the same as direct PAs. Something to consider if you ever get the urge to tell someone they're talking out of their ass.

Bush favors the draft? So, what you're saying is volunteers went unvoluntarily? Right?

What fantasy world do you live in that you think I'm pissed off? In the bigger picture, where do you people get these ridiculous opinions of me? You make up all sorts of things that aren't true about me then start repeating each other's views as gospel. It's all a fantasy, people. I'm not pissed off. I'm LAUGHING AT YOU! Me thinks he doth protest too much.

But that's not the case. Top earners pay a higher percentage tax than everyone else. I think their overall tax rate is about 100% higher than the average. And yet, many people think those top taxpayers should pay more.

Offering the exception to obscure the norm. SSDD

What's your point? That people shouldn't form opinions about matters, unless they have first hand knowledge?

And I never said otherwise. If you'll read the thread you'll notice that it was your spiritual comrade NCclimber who made the distinction. I was simply showing him where his own logic led. Actually you didn't. You merely claimed Moore's words in his letter were dignified. Maybe we have different understandings of dignified. To me, being a smug condescending prick doesn't fit the bill.

What do you think? Were they merely practicing their faith or were they trying to cause a conflict?

Doubtful. Once they get UHC, they will want all research funded by the govt. too. True, but the government will be overwhelmed with just providing healthcare. Regarding biomedical research, funding in all of Europe is 1/10th of funding in the US. All those universal healthcare programs everyone like to spew about.... they don't spend squat on research.

I was thinking along the lines of the history of federally run programs, especially open ended ones. Throughout the life of medicare and medicaid, actual costs have consistently and dramatically outpaced forecasted costs. And then there's the quality of service the federal government is known for. If the US goes the universal healthcare route, we can say good bye to the kinds of technological and pharmacutical advances we've enjoyed on a regular basis.

Interesting distinction. Moore's letter above is incredibly dignified. Whether or not you believe what it says, it's dignified. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight

In the US, the First Amendment already gives them that rein. And it doesn't prohibit others (like cartoonists) from offering criticisms.

There are number of justifiable reasons for not converting to Universal Healthcare. No doubt. That's why there's no universal health care in Luxembourg, Norway, Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Finland, Australia, Netherlands, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, or Italy, either. Oh, wait – there is. Anyhow, the US is way smarter than they are. Oh great. The "everybody else is doing it" justification.

How about libel? Graphic porn on billboards?

No doubt, there are plenty of people who look for any old excuse to get their panties bunched.

There are number of justifiable reasons for not converting to Universal Healthcare.

It's interesting to see who behaves with dignity, whether they win or lose and who doesn't.... regardless of whether they win or lose.

Hearsay, maybe the were discussing the war. How many white Hispani or Oriental Americans do the same? if they were 'spouting Anti American rhetoric then why were they not stopped from even getting onto the plane??? As for asking for a seatbelt extension there could be many reasons for wanting one, maybe he had a stoma for example. Maybe he was a fat git, who knows? I doubt that it was because he couldn't fit his bomb under the belt and was worried he'd hurt himself if the plane crashed How is life in a vacuum?

Here you go: http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=6

I'm amazed that so many people seem incapable of (or are unwilling to) recognize that this incident was significantly more than just an innocent evening prayer session. For those who don't get it, try and figure out why it's against the law to yell FIRE in a crowded theater.

We were discussing the issue of being hijacked, not the issue of dying, so the amount of deaths does not matter. (You can follow the previous link and tally the deaths up if you want to.) PS: It does not appear that the goal of any of the Cuban hijackings was to kill mass amounts of civilians though. IMO, it is relevant because Cuban hijackings are by and large matters of transportation, whereas Muslim hijackings in this country are about killing people.